This Prison
by The-Butterses
Summary: Lavi finds himself delinquent thrown into Prison, a world of which he is unfamiliar, but perhaps the company of hall-mate Allen Walker can help him through it...
1. Imprisoned

He wasn't supposed to be here today. He was supposed to be with his group of friends going to a movie or hanging out or something other than the situation he was currently in. Looking at the orange jump suit skeptically, he sighed once more, regretting the act responsible for him being in this place. Too late to look back on it now though… The deed was done, he had been caught. Now the next six months were going to be spent in hell. It seemed pointless to him though, the thought of spending any time in prison. The fear instilled into him at being dragged to court, paraded around like some sort of criminal (though now he guess that the title was accurate), and being bombarded with stinging accusations should have been enough to teach him not to do it again. He was a good kid, in his opinion. He'd had the highest grades in his class, never had a detention, and never once missed an assignment. Nonetheless, as he looked back at that damned orange jump suit, he knew life was about to change entirely. From being top of the school, to being bottom of the dog pile. He wasn't an optimist about this ordeal either. He knew he'd be ripped to shreds by the rougher and bigger "actual" criminals taken hostage inside this kingdom of doom. He was heading in a boy of innocence and posture, he would walk out a man of experience and hungry survival.

The blond man leading him down the hallway into his cell held a posture similar to military fashion, which seemed odd because he looked no older than a high school senior. His outdated hair cut of a long braid and look of ironed rock added a few years to his exterior. Other than that though, he wasn't aged much. His hands were calloused on his captive's sleeved arm, so rough that it could in fact be felt through the fabric. The young to-be prisoner was lead to an empty cell, the walls stained a tinted yellow and the floors so filthy not even rats would dare feast on the food to fall upon them. He glared through his eye at it in distaste. This was where he was going to spend the next six months of his eighteenth year, and as following the expectations, he was not going to enjoy it.

"Alright, there you go." The blond man had a wispy voice despite his young appearance. He gently shoved the delinquent into his new home, closing the door with a finishing 'clang'. The clang echoed around in the prisoner's head, knowing how it was the end to the old and beginning of the harsh new. Two beds were located in his tiny area, but as far as he could tell he was all alone. "You're by yourself for today, but we get new inmates all the time. Enjoy the solitude while it lasts." His guide said the last sentence with a semi-lustful edge to his broken voice, almost as if to give off the impression that he wanted to be alone all the time.

The delinquent sat on the bottom bunk and ran a hand through his red hair slowly. It had sunk in good this time… He was in jail… prison… the source of society's lowest individuals. There was no hope for escape. He could find his way out of any math problem, report a science subject in near perfection, and even hot wire a car if need be. But the dynamics of breaking out of prison were a much larger scale. Not only that, but it would be useless since they would simply catch him and bring him right back (only that case they would lengthen his sentence). He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. No trouble, no violence, just get out of here.

After some good time of just sitting there contemplating his situation, the young red head decided to take in the remainder of his surroundings. He looked along the walls, dirty and un-scrubbed for what probably was quite a good deal of time. The ceiling was in no better shape. There was an openly public toilet next to the only open wall, also in grim condition. He wasn't cut out for this… Maybe he could ask for a sponge or something and at least try to brighten the place up a bit. He looked out beyond the bars caging him in, cataloguing the hallways and monotonous cement castle making up his cut off from civilization. He could only see inside three other cells from his point of view. The one to the right of his vision didn't seem to be occupying anyone. The bed as made and from, from what he could see, no one was inside. The one to the left of his vision held a young man with tattoos on his arms and a wiry, thin frame. He looked like someone the red head could take down, but he didn't want to risk his chances. Directly across from his cell though, (and here's where he got confused) there appeared be a white haired old man sitting with his back against the bars. fingers played with some kind of weird golden object, and he seemed relatively uncaring about his surroundings.

The one eyed youth went back to sitting down on his bed, pondering as to how an old man could have come to be in a Juvenile prison. The age limit was something like twelve to nineteen. Having an old man in the midst was more than a little bit confusing. But, instead of trying to solve a puzzle with no answer other than asking the people around him (of which he certainly wanted to avoid doing), the red haired delinquent resumed with trying to find a good way of obtaining a sponge to clean the area he was now occupying. He had heard that sometimes they'd make the inmates clean the dishes. Maybe he could volunteer for said job and jack one of their sponges when no one was looking…

Endless possibilities floated through his intellectual head, each idea starting to get more unrealistic than the last. He could have gone on like that forever if not a voice had interrupted his state of spacing out.

"Hey, are you new?"

The one eyed red head looked up and over to where the voice had come from. It was soft, almost child-like, and dripped with dismal emotion. His green hued gaze directed him to the cell across, meeting up with dull silver. The man who he had mistaken for an elderly was actually not a man at all… He was a boy. A rather small and feminine looking thing, but a boy nonetheless.

"Yeah." He replied, "I just came in here, like, twenty minutes ago…"

The white haired male shifted a little, making it so he could converse with more face to face contact. "Oh. Um… Welcome…"

The newcomer wrinkled his nose at the awkward atmosphere now residing between the two. If the boy had wanted to start a conversation with him, then shouldn't he be a bit more talkative? Instead of accusing him outright, the red head tried to make acquaintances. Might not be so bad if he had someone else to talk to.

"I'd like to say I'm glad to be here, but that wouldn't be very honest, I'll admit."

"Oh… Yeah."

"Um…" Well this was one of the most colorless conversations he'd ever had. "How long you been here?"

"Oh…" The white haired boy looked at the ground for what seemed like forever, finally meeting back with the others gaze. "A while."

"How much of a while?" This was seriously getting irritating.

"A lot of a while."

"Have an exact number?"

"oh… um…" Silver eyes greeted the floor again.

"'Um's' not a number, kiddo."

"Well the thing is… I don't know…" The boy didn't look back up this time. He asphyxiated his stare upon a stain located in the cement flooring. "It's just been… a while…"

He felt a gulp rising up in his throat. This kid had been here so long, that he didn't even remember how long he had been here? Well the boy was odd, no doubt. White hair? Ridiculous. And his speaking mannerism weren't very sociable…

'Great.' He thought, 'I would end up getting spoken to by the most murderous guy here…" Unfortunately at the moment he really had nothing better to do, so making conversation was the only option right now.

"So, what did you do? To get jammed in here I mean."

White hair swished around the woman-like face and the one eyed prisoner got shot with a strange look.

"I did something bad…"

"Well that's obvious, look where we are!" He motioned to the bars and cells making up their current living quarters. "Details. Come on, I'll tell you if you tell me."

"I don't wanna say…" The kid curled his knees up to his chin, still occupying his gaze with that ugly stain.

"Ok then…" His patience was wearing a bit thin. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen. I think…"

"You think?"

"I don't remember… but I think the last guard said I was fifteen when labeling off the people here…"

Progress. Finally. "I'm eighteen, so I guess that makes me older than you" He gave a wide grin hoping to coax a reaction out of the kid other than this creepy blank look he had going. "What's your name?"

At first the boy gave him a funny look, like he had smelled something wretched. But then he gave a little half smile, though the attempt wasn't very heartening. "My name's Allen. Allen Walker. I think… No… I'm sure about that one." The younger giggled into what ever he was holding in his hand, leaving the other to wonder what was so funny.

"Nice name. Mine's Lavi. Lavi Bookman." Lavi reached a hand out through the bars, jesting a handshake. "How do ya do?"

"I can't reach that far." Allen's temporary smile was replaced by the usual blank stare.

"I'm joking…"

"Oh…"

"You don't seem like the type who normally calls on people to make friends…"

"Oh… I'm not."

"Why'd you call out to me then?" The white haired weirdo was openly admitting to his unsocial outlook, leaving Lavi to wonder why he'd gone out of his way just to talk to him.

Instead of replying, the boy hugged his knees tighter to his chest and looked up to his green eyed semi-companion. "I don't like talking to Tyki anymore…"

"Who the hell is Tyki?"

"He used to be nice…" Eyes to the floor again. "But now he's kind of mean."

"Mean like how?" Getting this kid to talk was a lot of effort. He was used to his friends trying to get him out of his books and join the chatter. Now things were completely reversed.

"I don't want to tell you…"

"So you don't trust me?"

The boy shook his head and buried his face into his knees.

Lavi sighed wearily. "H'ok then. If you ever feel like talking, just let me know…" He turned away form the bars and made a move to sit down on the bed again before he was called back.

"Wait… don't go…"

"Why not?"

"I want… I wanna talk to you…"

"About what?" The amount of effort it took just to keep on par with this kid was already starting to take its toll. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep this act up.

"I don't know… What do you like to talk about?" Allen looked up again, trying to put on a smile.

"Uhh…" Lavi scratched the back of his head. "Do you like girls?"

"No."

"What?"

"Girls are dumb."

At first he thought he had heard his younger conversation partner wrong. Who just says "Girls are dumb"? That's something a four year old would do!

"If you don't like girls than what kind of person would you date?"

"No one."

"You serious?"

Allen nodded.

"That's kind of lonely isn't it?"

He shook his snowy head vigorously. "Not anymore." He grinned.

"Huh?" The amount of emotions this one kid could go through in under five minutes… absolutely astounding. Lavi quite honestly just didn't know how to handle it.

"I'm not lonely anymore." Dull silver twinkled feebly as if trying to relight a shine once shown regularly, but had now been repressed like a dying battery in a flashlight. "I have you now."

"Me? We just met… Barely at that…"

"You don't… want to be friends?" The grin was killed immediately, replaced by an upset frown.

"No, no. I never said that…" Jesus, this frekaing kid…! "Alright. I'll be your friend."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really." Lavi grimaced inwardly. Why couldn't he make friends with the thugs? At least then when he got out he'd seem like some sort of bad ass cronie. No. He had to make friends with the socially awkward serial killer boy. Fan Fucking Tastic. "Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about outside."

"Oh… well.. What do you want to know?" The red head thought about that statement for a minute… Allen had been here so long that he didn't even know the modern world buzzing around the shell protecting this prison. It was… kind of sad…

"everything."

"Narrow it down kiddo." He laughed good-naturedly, hoping the boy would warm up a bit over time.

"Oh… What's High School like?"

"It's difficult, but you make a lot of good friends… thought you make some bad ones too."

Their discussion went on in that fashion for a good few hours. Allen asking about things most people thought of as common knowledge, and Lavi responding with as best an explanation he could give. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Within the first thirty minutes, he'd been able to avoid getting beat up, and even found a friend in a relatively friendly (If not horribly odd) young fellow. Hopefully the six months would go by quickly, and with Allen to talk to they may just as well…

To Be Continued.


	2. Jail Life

**So, I've written fan fics before, But this is the first one I've really gotten into. Hope it turns out OK n_n**

**I do not own D Gray Man or any of its characters.**

The next day started out early. Too early. Earlier than a school day early…

Lavi had finally gotten to sleep in that awful excuse prison called a bed, when a loud, resounding metal clanging was heard. He had awoken with a start, only to see his stiff guard awaiting on the other side to lead him to prisoner duties. The red head was hoping that since it was his first day, someone might show him how the work was done so he didn't look like a total idiot. The military wanna-be next went over to Allen's cell, unlocking it quickly, then banging on the bars similar to what he had done to Lavi's. The white haired inmate sleepily made his way out of the miniature room. He was rubbing his eyes and yawning, his hair disorganized from sleep.

After their guard had gathered a good number of inmates, they all headed off down the hallway and to an area filled with mechanic looking devices and barred windows. The red head took it all in with his single eye, noting the license plates stacked all nice and neat, ready to go. He guessed that was what his first job was going to be, but admittedly he had no idea where to even start…

Luckily Allen knew exactly what he was doing. He stamped on those plates like some sort of pro, getting them done faster than anyone else. Of course, he did I with the same blank expression he always wore. Lavi was pretty grateful that he had made friends with the odd kid beforehand now, for Allen was quite patient in teaching him how to do it.

"It's not that hard…"

"Yeah, well, I've never done manual labor before."

While configuring the build up of the process used to complete his current job, Lavi had a chance to get a better look at Allen. He was short. Not too short, but short enough to be short. The hair was definitely white, no yellow tinge anywhere to specify that it might be some hue of bleach blond. Over his left eye there was a fairly large scar, that upon further inspection, looked like some odd pentacle design. Oh no… he wasn't getting involved with a Satanist… was he? Lavi had shaken away the thought almost immediately when he saw the cross around Allen's neck. No Satanist would wear a cross. He hoped at least… Allen's left hand was covered in a white glove, and even when the steamy heat broke through the glass-less windows and made it unbearably hot, he never pulled up his left sleeve or took that glove off.

This caused some suspicion in Lavi. Why would Allen hide his arm? Was it covered in Nazi tattoos? Scarred up like his eye? Maybe he could ask later… There was too much noise to make decent conversation.

He decided to look at the people around him. These were the real criminals. People who shanked men alleyways, raped women, ran off with money that they stole at gun point. Most of them held a rough exterior with their bandanas and tough builds. A fair amount, though, looked kind of like Lavi and Allen. Regular appearance, normal body types; if they were to take off the jump suits and walk into a crowd no one would even notice them.

The job lasted something like two hours, leaving the one eyed delinquent exhausted already. The boys (although some were better referred to as men) were allowed some recreational time and breakfast. Lavi had originally sat by himself, not wanting to bother Allen in case the boy wanted to eat alone. However, his new companion walked straight to his table and join into his company. The food was not quality. It was probably nutritious and just enough to keep the inmates going, but it tasted horrible. Lavi had almost gagged on the first bite before realizing the next meal wouldn't be for another couple hours, in which case he gulped it down and reached his fill. Allen seemed to really like the food. He ate his first serving in no time (as to whether or not it was ever really there in the first place, you'd have to ask someone other than Lavi because he never even saw it). The kid ate like a Tasmanian devil, ripping into the food with vigor and not stopping until he was told he could have no more.

"So I guess you really enjoy the food here, huh?" Lavi decided that since they were somewhat alone now and not surrounded by metal noise he could spark up some kind of speaking topic.

"No…" Allen replied, "I just forgot what outside food tastes like… So I guess this is the best my standards know…"

"Oh, yeah that might have something to do with it." They were both done at this point, simply enjoying the most of the break they had been given. Apparently there weren't any hugely back breaking jobs, since it was after all only a Juvie prison. "Hey do you think they'd let me do the dishes if I asked?"

Allen cocked his head to the side. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I'm trying to get a sponge."

"Just ask for a sponge then."

"I can do that?"

"Maybe…"

The older boy puffed out his cheeks. Even though it seemed Allen had been here longer than anyone else, the kid wasn't always the most useful source of information. He seeked out their guard and decided to see if it was worth a shot.

"Hey, sir."

"I don't talk to inmates."

Prick. "No, no. I was just wondering if I could have a sponge."

"Why?"

"Clean up my pace a bit, ya know? Make it more homey."

The guard shifted up a bit, looking towards the floor. It was like he was trying to find a situation in which Lavi could use a sponge to break out of prison. "Um… I guess that would be alright."

"Cool! Thanks Mr.… uh…?" Lavi trailed off, hoping the stiff would finish the last part.

"Link."

"Awesome! Once again, thanks a bunch!" Feeling pretty good about himself he returned to the table with a triumphant grin plastered on his face. Allen returned the positive look with his blank one, seeming as if bored by the red head's antics.

He reached his gloved hand into his pocket and pulled something out. Lavi tried to see what it was, but the snowy haired recluse kept it out of view. Allen then looked up to Lavi and smiled mischievously. "Wanna see a secret?"

"See a secret? Sounds like a trap, kiddo."

Allen looked taken aback. "It's not a trap, it's a secret!"

Lavi resigned, not because he was one to easily surrender, he was just confused. "Alright. Show me your secret."

Allen shoved his right index finger practically up Lavi's nose. "You can't tell anyone."

The red head peaked up in interest. "Got it."

He watched as his odd companion fished around in a rather large jumpsuit pocket, not stopping until he had apparently retrieved what he'd been searching for. The white haired boy slowly and dramatically revealed what, to Lavi anyway, seemed to be the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter.

"This is your big secret?" The one eyed delinquent looked at the toy skeptically, not really sure how to react. It was pretty legit looking, he would admit. But the fact that Allen was calling it a big "secret" was just a bit off to him. He sat there judging it for a while, when suddenly it caught him by surprise.

The tail of the thing twitched a bit, and then revealed a giant, toothy grin. A scary, giant toothy grin. It was MOVING. Lavi stared at it, jaw slacked, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "Is it a robot or something…?"

Allen giggled quietly. "Something like that, my Uncle gave it to me when they sent me here. He said it would keep me company."

"Sounds like a nice guy."

The younger's face fell. "No."

Lavi coughed a bit. "No?"

"Uncle was dumb."

"Dumb?"

"Yeah you know… he just had it…"

The red head rubbed his neck in confusion. "Had what?"

"The dumb."

"Huh?"

"He had the dumb."

Lavi had never heard such a description for a person describing another's stupidity. Allen said it like "dumb" was a disease. And he spat it as if to say that he didn't like dumb people. The way his new friend talked sometimes… it made it seem like he was an angry four year old. He didn't know a lot of people who even used the word dumb anymore..

"What makes you say he… had… that he was stupid?" He couldn't even bring himself to repeat the kindergarten phrase.

"Uncle was just dumb. Dumb is dumb. That's all."

"Alrighty then…"

After an hour of recreational time, the inmates were brought back to their cells. It was a bit upsetting to Lavi; he was hoping to get a bit more stretching time before being shoved into this cramped area again. To his glee though, Link followed through with his word of bringing a sponge, and even threw in some soap to boot. The guard had said something along the lines of, if he ever caught him up to no good that the blond Dutch man would kick his ass. Lavi, of course was fine with the threat. He had no intentions of escaping and certainly didn't want to be stuck here for any longer than he had to. Later that afternoon he went to work on the walls, scrubbing with vigor at all the splotchy stains consisting of unknown substances. He continued his cleaning spree for a good two hours before getting tired and deciding a nap couldn't hurt. He was just settled in when a huge racket startled him out of bed.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!"

The voice was strong and male, tinged with some sort of accent. Oriental? It wasn't too strong so even for Lavi (who was pretty good at tracking accents), couldn't tell. He went up to the bars, wanting to see what all the commotion was about, spotting Allen doing the same thing only from behind his bed post. A long haired Asian (He was right about the accent) man with a fierce mug was brought into his line of sight. Judging by the spotless jump suit, Lavi guessed that it was another new inmate. He was thrashing about, having to be held down by Link and one other man, who was about twice the size of the red head's familiar guard.

"Kanda, just calm down…"The huge one stated. His voice was deep and steady, unlike what Lavi had been expecting.

"FUCK YOU MARIE! YOU'RE HELPING THEM DETAIN ME!" There was no helping the eccentric individual. He kicked out at Link, and tried to head butt his other captor. The damage would have most likely been effective if not for the cuffs holding him back. Finally the larger one just simply picked him bridal style and tossed him into the cell Link had opened before hand. It was the one to the right of Allen, unoccupied beforehand.

"I didn't even do anything wrong, asshole!" he snarled passed the bars and attempted to spit in the blonde's face.

Link just stepped back, same unimpressed face as usual. "Stabbing someone is a crime, Mr. Kanda. And as such, you must be punished for your actions."

"Bullshit. Marie, make this poser let me go."

Marie, as he was called, shook his head. "No, Kanda. Teidoll said you need to learn your lesson."

"What lesson? That it's just fucking dandy to let Daysia make fun of me without me getting him back? That prick's always causing trouble! Why is it that I'm the one getting thrown in jail?"

"Because you stabbed him."

"Fucker had it coming."

"Sorry, Kanda. Just be good ok?"

Kanda's face turned a bright shade of red and he wailed a bucket full of curses at his associate as the giant man made his leave. After running out of breath, Link took the opportunity to relieve the man of his handcuffs.

"I can get them off myself, dick."

Link snorted. "Good luck with that one. Here. Either let me remove the handcuffs for you, or spend the entire night doing just what you are daring to attempt."

There was a long pause. The galled Asian finally let out a long held puff of air and unenthusiastically stuck his cuffed hands out between the bars. Link made quick work of them, taking them away before Kanda might have a chance to throw the metal objects back in his face.

Lavi let out a low whistle only he could hear. So this was what a dangerous criminal could be like… He watched the newest hall mate glare around out from his room before making his way to the bed and lying there. Allen had apparently been hiding under his covers the whole time, not as interested in angry samurai look-a-likes as Lavi was.

The red head lingered at his bars for a while longer, wondering if any other enthralling events might occur. It seemed that he had lingered too long though, for a rightly rude comment ended up being slung his way.

"The fuck you doing, eye patch?"

Lavi blinked for a second before realizing that he was the one being called out.

"Just enjoying the scenery." He tried to keep a smug outlook. There was nothing Kanda could do through an army of prison bars.

"Well isn't that peachy. Why don't you do the rest of us a favor and get your ugly ass face away from my line of vision."

"Speak for yourself, Barbie." Lavi grinned, having fun egging on this newest installment in everyday boring Juvie life.

"B-BAR-?" The Oriental's face flashed red again, the red head noticing a pattern between belittling Kanda's manliness and the blushing fits that he would spout. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU PIRATE POSING DICKWEED!"

"Have at me." Lavi stepped away from the bars of his own cell and held his hands in a fashion similar to waiting for a loving embrace. It took all his strength not to laugh at the ridiculous show he was being freely given. Allen had popped from under his covers at this point, looking to Lavi since he couldn't see their new inmate.

Lavi winked (or tried to. The action is rather difficult to accomplish when you only have one eye) at his white haired buddy. Allen seemed to get it though and decided to join in.

"Are you new here?"

The single eyed delinquent's face stiffened for a minute, wondering what Allen was trying to accomplish by saying that. Didn't the kid have some kind of standard for making friends? Well… maybe not… He had called out to Lavi within the first few minutes of him being there, and not that he was, but Lavi's eye patch and bandana that he wore made him look pretty tough. Guess that a killer samurai wasn't enough to daunt him.

"What do you think?" Lavi was trying to recall if that was the first statement uttered by Kanda that didn't involve some form of curse word.

"Oh… well…"

Ah shit… That's right… Allen sucked at conversation. He had finally started to warm up to Lavi, but even then their communications were mostly made up of the red head talking.

"Yeah you better shut up, prick."

"That mouth of yours is something else."

"Why you concentrating so hard on it?"

Now Lavi was the one blushing. "Kind of difficult to ignore with all that shit coming out of it."

"Oh yeah, well at least I'm not a ginger!"

"You take that back!" He'd never had a problem with his red hair, and certainly never though that it could be used as an insult against him… In fact these fiery tresses were responsible for a good number of girlfriends he had attained last year. Ladies loved the red hair, and so should this oh so lovable bundle of fun.

"Oh yeah? Make me!" Kanda stuck his middle finger through the bars and directed it towards the one eyed high school senior's face. "I bet you-"

"Enough already!" A smooth, deeply resounding voice cut through the fray. Both Lavi and Kanda looked up to see a finely suited gentleman with tan skin and thick, curly black locks. The unruly hair was kept tied back by a good number of bands and pins, making it all the easier to see his flawless face. For a minute Lavi was entranced. He'd always liked girls, for as far back as he knew, but he was also aware that if he were to fight over a girl with this man he'd lose without too much hassle. For God's sake the man was just downright attractive…

"You kids done fighting now?" Golden eyes traveled from Lavi to Kanda, Kanda glaring right back and letting out an insulting "Che".

Lavi stepped back. He didn't want to cause any trouble that would keep him here longer. "Yes sir." He watched the man walked passed Kanda's cell and head towards Allen's. The red head noticed Allen run back under the covers, doing what looked like trying to remain unseen by the dark skinned foreign man. Said elaborate individual rattled the bars of the kid's bars gently. "Allen~. Come on now, let's not play this game. We have to go talk to the supervisor and Leverrier about your parole."

Lavi watched with interest. Allen was going to be patrolled? Was that why he was asking so many questions about the outside? Well for Allen that was certainly good news, being able to finally get out of this place after who knows how long. But Lavi doubted he'd be able to make new friends so easily… His attentiveness heightened as he watched Allen bury himself further into the covers. The tall luxuriously-suited man heaved a sigh and took out some keys to unlock the cell.

"I really didn't want to come in after you. Could we make this a bit less difficult?" As the man reached a gloved hand to the bed covers, he immediately stumbled back as a running Allen dove past him and out into the hallway. He had only gotten a few centimeters, though, before his bigger adversary caught the collar of his jumpsuit and dragged him back. "What did I say about running?"

Allen looked on the brink of crying. "But.. I don't want… Not now… Tyki…"

Tyki. Lavi tried to recall where he had heard that name before… He anxiously tugged his hair as he watch Allen being dragged away. Why was the kid so against parole? He might have a chance of being let go, getting out of here.. Why would he fight such a thing?

"Just come along, boy. They'll never let you out if you keep acting like this. It's just a conference for parole."

"No… It's never.. It's never… you're a.."

The red head was unable to hear the rest as his friend was dragged down the hallway, the upset noises coming from Allen plucking at his heart strings. Allen was unsociable, yes. But so far he had never gone so far as to try to escape from someone, especially one of the guards… The rest of the cells remained quiet after that. Even Kanda who had gone to his bed to sleep (this was only Lavi's guess, for he couldn't imagine the harsh tongued male being quiet otherwise). Finally the red haired teen took to sitting on his bed, waiting for Allen to return. Why did he somehow feel bad for the kid? Lavi had always had a bit of a third sense about things, and right now it was coming on pretty strong.

Something was up, and he wanted to find out what.

To Be continued…

**To be entirely honest, I've never really liked Kanda as a character. He always kind of pissed me off. But it was a good amount of fun writing about him :D**

**Wonder what will happen next…**


	3. Issues

**Woke up at 5 am to work on this a bit before school… if something's amiss, let me know please ****J**

At some point Lavi had drifted off to sleep. He was tired after the earlier work, and scrubbing his walls had only deepen the exhaustion. The last image of Allen being dragged off by the dress suit guy kept replaying in his dream, causing him to try and decipher the meaning behind his younger friend's upset reaction. He had only been in this place for almost a day, but already he wanted out. So why would Allen, a boy who'd been here so long he couldn't even remember the outside world, fight the possibility of parole? He shook the sleep from his blurry head, deciding not to think on it until he could at least do so clearly.

He looked out to the hallway, noting that Allen wasn't back yet. Well, those discussions probably took a lot of time unless you went in there shouting ideals so radical that they'd send you away before hearing your case. Allen didn't seem like that kind of individual though. He was timid, soft; it was a miracle he had survived in this place for so long. On the other side of his cell bars he saw Kanda looking back. His neck hair bristled. He readied a number of retorts in case the Oriental wind storm thought it necessary to start another word brawl. His guard lessened a bit at the actual statement presented.

"What's up with that kid?"

Lavi blinked. Was the man trying to start conversation? He hurriedly gathered his bearings and replied. "I don't know… I've hardly been here a day."

Kanda nodded, looking at nothing in particular. "Why was he so upset? That guy said he was getting parole."

"I told you, man. No idea."

"You two looked like you knew each other."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"You kept grinning at the cell next to me like some sort of idiot. And then, when the tall fucker took him away, you looked like you might try to go after him."

Lavi kept quiet for a minute. He didn't know Allen that well. But something inside him had stirred when he saw his fresh acquaintance being dragged off by an unknown man. "I don't know what you're talking about" the red head finally replied. He took a seat on his bed and looked over the wall he had started cleaning earlier. He still had a ways to go, but at least progress was being made. A hand ran through his messy mop of fiery locks. He sighed. Seeing Allen like that… Why was it bothering him so much? He shouldn't have talked back to that stupid weird kid in the first place. Should have made friends with the bad ass thugs. Should have tried to do something when that stupid weird kid looked like he wanted to cry. He grit his teeth. No matter what, even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could do about the situation. Most of the time Allen was two sets of bars between him, a hallway residing between either one. He also didn't want to make any ripples in the water, fearing an elongated sentence.

Both Kanda and the one eyed delinquent looked up when they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Lavi had a hard time seeing from his angle, but he heard the man across and to the right of him mutter "He's back".

Sure enough, Allen was being paraded down the aisle, his wrist in the hand of the man from before. Tyki. The juvenile high school senior's heart skipped a beat at that name bouncing off the walls of his mind. Allen had said something about a Tyki… he had said… dammit what was it? All thoughts scrambled when he got a good look at his white haired companion.

Allen's hair was messy and dirty looking. His face was dull and doll-like, no emotion showing from behind eyes colored the shade of a spoon on the verge of rusting. He wasn't putting up a fight like he had done when he left; no this time he was completely submissive. Tyki unlocked the cell door and Allen obediently walked in, not turning around once inside.

"Alright, you be good now Boy~." The melodic voice dripped with something vile. Lavi grimaced inwardly. "better luck next time, huh? When your next opportunity comes don't pick a fight with your superiors." With that the tall man of Portuguese descent turned and walk back down the direction he had come from, shooting a quick glance in Lavi's direction. Lavi catalogued that fraction of a second moment and filed it into an important document in his memory. No longer distracted, he turned back to the returned inmate, who had still not turned or moved since being replaced in his cell.

"Hey, Allen… You ok?"

No response.

"Allen?"

The boy slowly turned, not facing Lavi all the way.

"How did the discussion go? Are they really going to let you out?"

Lavi watched as Allen turned back to the wall of his cell and shook his head slowly. He was holding onto his left arm securely, almost like at any minute someone was going to rip it from his body. His knees were shaking visibly enough to make Lavi cringe. It must have been quite a shock… being told you couldn't leave after someone giving you a small glimmer of hope that you could. Lavi tried to ignite some kind of conversation.

Well, maybe they'll let you go next time, they can't just keep you in Juvie forever you know."

"Lavi. Don't talk to me right now." Allen sat on his bed and pulled the covers over. This signaled the end of their conversation and despite how it felt like a heavy rock in the pit of the red head's stomach, he would abide by Allen's wish. The younger's voice had sounded older, raspy like rocks being dragged over granite. Slow and dismal the words had fallen out. It didn't sound like Allen. It sounded like a ghost of Allen that had come to take Allen's place but wasn't doing a very good job.

There was nothing to do about it. If Allen had no interest in talking, then Lavi would have to find something better to do. He looked back to the sponge lying in the corner of his cell, grabbing up the soap and lathering the walls so they could deteriorate some of the grime away. Letting that sit for a few minutes, he gave a last longing glance to the white haired male. Allen was sleeping from the looks of it, the blanket rising and falling in chaotic sleep breathing patterns. Lingering on a matter there was nothing he could do about wasn't helping. The delinquent puffed out his cheeks and went back to work on sprucing up his personal living space.

It was going to be a long running project, he was sure. But it gave him something to work on and quite honestly he just couldn't stand living in filth. Hand in sponge, soap in the other, he went back to rigorously vanquishing the stained eyesores. His project was interrupted, though, for Link walked up to his bars and called him over.

"Yo, what do you want?"

"It's time for lunch."

"Oh, ok then." Lavi stepped back so Link could undo the lock. The medium height guard led him out, leaving the red head a good deal of space to stretch and enjoy the lack of claustrophobic quarters. Lavi then walked over to Allen's cell, debating as to whether or not he'd be up for lunch. Rattling lightly on the bars, he saw his friend blink bleary eyes at him, before slowly moving his form out of bed and next to the bars.

"You're out?"

Ok, so Allen was talking again... that was good. "Well, it's time for lunch. You hungry?"

Allen looked back at his room, then back to Lavi. His stomach gurgled before he could reply, making the snowy headed boy slightly blush. "I think so..."

"Okidoki!"

Link came over after letting Kanda out, having a ferocious hassle just to get the man to calm down and not cause terror. A polite threat saying that if the Asian couldn't hold himself together he'd be placed in handcuffs for eternity made Kanda finally simmer down a bit.

The odd three then followed their guard out of the cell sectors and into the lunch commons.

"In the afternoon, you have two hours recreation time. Don't cause any trouble, or we'll immediately put you back in your cell. Walker, you know the drill."

Allen nodded slowly. His movements were fidgety and he seemed distracted by whatever he was thinking. He kept looking around the room, almost as if looking for someone in particular. Lavi put a securing hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Allen, what's the matter?"

Allen shook his head, but didn't remove the hand on his shoulder. "It's... um... it's nothing..."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Lavi snorted.

"I don't... want to talk about it..." Allen finally raised his gaze up to Lavi's single eyed view. "Maybe sometime... but not today..."

"Ok, man..."

"Hey would you two stop flirting and blocking the fucking doorway?" Kanda. The irritated long haired man had a vicious twitch forming on his right eyebrow.

Lavi turned around and stuck his tongue out. "Don't hate man. That's prejudice."

"But Lavi, we aren't-"

"JOKING, Allen."

"Oh... yeah... haha!" the red head and the samurai-wannabe watched with awkward silence as Allen attempted to force laugh. Needless to say the result wasn't very convincing.

"You don't have to laugh if it isn't funny..."

"Oh... I guess..." Allen averted his eyes and headed towards the lunch line. Lavi shook his head at the uncouth moment the three of them had just shared. He didn't reflect on it too long though, and decided to, instead, voice his thoughts on a strange matter.

"Hey. Samurai. Why are you hanging around us, anyhow?"

Kanda sniffed with a "che" before replying, "Waiting for an opportunity to kill you, one-eye."

"Pleasant."

After getting their own food the two older boys wen to join Allen at his table, Lavi still keeping track of the boy's alert state. Seriously, he was checking behind his shoulder every thirty seconds. Whatever Tyki had said or done to Allen… It had messed with him. Or maybe this was what Allen was usually like? Lavi couldn't be sure of any theories, he needed more time to get to know his odd friend.

So, Moyashi. What'd they do you?"

Allen wasn't looking at Kanda, who had voiced the statement. Lavi wasn't sure who the Oriental was talking to either.

"Moy-a-shiiiii."

Both now whipped their heads to stare at Kanda.

"You." He pointed at Allen menacingly. "Moyashi."

"Moyashi?"

"That's right."

"Is that an insult….?"

"Yeah dumb ass. You're a moyashi."

"I'd probably get it better if you made fun of me in a language I understood…"

"It means bean sprout. 'Cuz you're short, thin, and there isn't much to you."

Allen puffed his cheeks indignantly. "I'm not a bean sprout… I'm an Allen."

"Whatever Moyashi."

"Twat."

Lavi was kind of dozing off, trying to filter out the inane banter buzzing through the air. But with the last word Allen had just uttered, interest was suddenly at its highest peak.

"What did you say, Allen?"

"Twat. That's what he is."

Kanda wrinkled his nose. "Oh yeah, why don't you try saying that to my face, Moyashi."

"Twat." Allen stated again. "Twat, twat, twatty twat twat."

"Oh you're dead-!" Kanda lunged at the white haired juvenile, yet to his dismay, never made a hit. Lavi had already gotten up and grabbed the infuriated man by his arms and held him back.

"Whoa! Come on now! You start a fight here, their just gonna throw you back in the cell!"

"This bastard insulted me!"

"Yeah, well you started it, buddy." The red head tightened his grip until finally Kanda gave up and sat down, his face cringed in a perma-frown.

Allen, however was keeping the same blank look he had with everything. Kanda's attempts at getting answers held rather fruitless, and his victim just went back to eating like nothing happened.

Lavi heaved sigh of relief, glad he wouldn't have to stop them from any further outbreaks. Unlike Kanda, he knew that if Allen wanted to talk about something, he would. The boy was no good at regular conversation. Period. He sucked at it. But when he had something to say, the object of his speech was easy to understand. He would simply wait for Allen to make the incident the subject and let him give up all the details on his own time. For now, anyhow, he wanted to question the boy on his rather colorful vocabulary that, until this moment, hadn't made surface.

"So Allen… Twat?"

"What?"

"I just didn't take you for a curser is all."

"Oh… I'm not…"

"But then- "

"Some people are twats. Some people have the dumb. That's just a fact."

Kanda spat. "So I'm just some twat? Huh? Is that it?"

Allen nodded, casual as always. "A dumb twat."

The angered male turned a shade of red and started sputtering before muttering "Well fuck you too," and storming away from the table. The red head and younger boy watched him leave, both holding disinterested faces.

They were all alone now. There were others off to the side, of course. But besides that no one was there to distract or bother them. Lavi looked to Allen, who had once again looked behind his shoulders with a weird look on his face. He had wanted to wait for Allen to come out and say something on his own, but given this perfect opportunity he went in for one last pry."

"Hey, you can tell me anything you know."

Allen frowned and knitted his eyes together. "I'm not allowed…"

"Not allowed what?"

"I can't…" He fidgeted with his jump suit, looking around for what seemed to be a way out. "He'll get mad…"

"Who'll get mad?" Lavi leaned in. Was Allen finally going to tell him? At least the kid wasn't just shoving him off like when he had returned from wherever Tyki had taken him. Dull silver eyes drifted away sheepishly. Lavi brought their attention back to face, making his voice more serious. "Allen, talk to me."

"We don't know each other that well… That's what you told Kanda…"

"Doesn't matter what I told Kanda. I was just trying to shut him up." He rolled his eye. "I don't know you that well, but seeing how we're the only company the other has right now, I figure it might be good to try to learn more."

"You're not my only company…"

"Huh?"

"I have Tim."

"Tim?"

"Yeah." Allen pointed to his pocket.

"Allen that's not a real person…" He bit his bottom lip in irritation. "You need human interaction, and more than Link just coming by and taking you to your next meal."

Allen looked to the table. He poked his fork, then let out a deep breath.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I was told not to. If I break my promise he'll keep me here forever.."

"Tyki?"

Allen's hand hit the table and his bottom lip trembled. "I can't…say…" His bangs covered both eyes and he moved his hands into his lap. He leaned his forehead on the table edge and avoided the knowing look Lavi was giving him.

"So it is him."

No reply.

"Just because this is a prison, doesn't mean that other people are allowed to belittle you."

"You don't get it…"

"Then help me get it."

Allen shook his head. "I'm not allowed. Never ever. No matter what… Or he'll keep me here forever. Forever and ever." The adolescent's voice shook along with his shoulders. He was silently sobbing under the table edge, the only noise being made was that of an occasional jerky breath intake.

Lavi didn't know what to do. He decided to remain seated and just wait for Allen to pick himself up again. That familiar tugging on his heart came back; the one he'd felt when Allen was taken out of his cell. Should he comfort the kid? Maybe Allen would think he thought he was weak… Men usually didn't like the comfort of other men. But Allen wasn't exactly a man… Still. After a while, the tears slowed to a halt and Allen wiped his face off with the napkins he had collected on his tray. He recovered quickly, taking in a long breath and letting it out in the same fashion. Squaring his shoulders, he looked Lavi right in the eye.

"I'm sorry…"

Baffled, the red head did his best to respond briskly. "Why are you apologizing?"

"Uncle told me guys don't cry."

"I thought your uncle was dumb."

"Sometimes he was smart, but usually dumb."

"You alright now?"

Allen nodded his head and greeted Lavi with a fake smile. "All better. See?"

"Sure, kid." Still leery of Allen's behavior, Lavi ruffled his friends hair with his hand. "Just talk to me whenever you feel like it. I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Why are you nice to me…?" Allen touch the hand on his head, giving the older a confused expression.

"For right now… you're all I got. So I better take care of the one thing I have in this place." He bit his tongue afterwards. That sounded so gay… But it was true. He had nothing here. No video games, no laptop, no friends, no family… Allen was the only thing he could rely on, and even doing that was sketchy for him. He hadn't survived an entire day yet, but with Allen's help he may get past these six months without a huge amount of hassle.

"Oh…" His hand hadn't left Lavi's. "Thanks…"  
"No problem, kid."

They were two completely different persons. One was intellectual about the outside world, the people in it, and the technologies gathering at every waking second. The other was knowledgeable about the inside world, a place of survival and harsh environments. Perhaps if they relied on each other, getting out of here would be easier. That was how Lavi saw it, anyhow.

Although… he wasn't sure which category to put Kanda into…

To Be Continued…

…**..**

**What did Tyki do? No one knows…**

**Here's some fluff. Enjoy it. Eventually, there may be a lot more…**

**Because I love fluff. **

**And Allen.**

**Because he is adorable :I**

**If you see something wrong, let me know so I can fix it D:**

**And reviews are always nice :D **


	4. Moment

**Go this done just in time for bed!**

**I try to make the chapters at least some amount of a decent length…**

**It just takes some time :I**

The next month drawled out slowly for Lavi. While going through the antics of daily prisoner life, he had to let Allen explain just about everything to him. Whether it was the proper stamping method on license plates, the efficient way to fish out garbage from a lake, or just not looking at someone the wrong way. In return Lavi would Allen a bit more about the outside world whenever they were sitting in their cells and had nothing better to do. Allen always listened with an intense curiosity. The idea that there were so many people in the world blew his mind. That now they had devices with touch-screens, previously thought to have only existed in something like "The Jetsons". That the majority of one's book collection could now be placed on just one machine.

Things weren't easy, though. Even with Allen giving him step-by-step instructions, there was no preparing Lavi for the pain of getting punched in the stomach by some brute four times his size just for not doing enough by his standards. Despite all the red head's attempts to stay out of people's way after that, he would still get into the occasional fist fight. It usually started when some oversized bat-for-brains started picking on Allen. The kid was small, easy prey. Allen would never fight back, even the one time when he got a black eye and bruise on his mouth. He simply pointed to them, grinned at Lavi and fake laughed it off. After that Lavi had decided to take on any who would dare hurt Allen, since bullying the weak was most certainly against his personal "gentle man's code". His heroic deed often ended him with a bloody nose, or a bruised rib, never anything pleasant. And it didn't help that he almost always lost, but after the brawl his opponents would get bored and saunter off, Allen surviving without too much trouble.

For certain, Allen was never pleased when Lavi would engage in such things. The white haired youth expressed feeling bad that Lavi kept getting hurt for his sake. To this, Lavi ruffled his friend's hair and said it was nothing.

Also, over the course of about two weeks, a visitor came in for Lavi. It was his gramps, coming there only to lecture Lavi for his actions and pass on a present the girls at his school had put together. He also asked Lavi whether or not the delinquent would want to do his school work here, that way he'd still be able to pass the grade. The red head was fine with it and accepted his package with little enthusiasm. He didn't even like sweets that much… But he knew someone who would. He wound up giving a chocolate bar to Allen at every lunch, always amused at how his younger friend's eyes lit up with every bite. Chocolate was hard to come by in a prison, and since Lavi had no liking for it, he rather give it to someone who might actually enjoy it.

Unfortunately, regardless of Lavi running in to save Allen whenever necessary, he couldn't protect him from everything. Two times within that first month, the ever smartly dressed Tyki would come and take Allen away, saying it was time for some sort of "conference". Both times Allen reacted as he had before, trying to desperately escape and never being able to. Lavi had made progress with Allen, yes, but the kid still wouldn't relay any details about what it was Tyki did to him during those events.

Both the one eyed Juvie and the younger snow cap were duped to find out over the lull of time, somehow Kanda had joined in their ranks. They weren't sure how, why, whether to accept or fear for their lives, but the Asian basket case certainly added a colorful shade to the endless gray world of prison. On some rare situations he'd even jump into Lavi's frays (though it was most likely just to get a taste of violence). Either way, the new company was accepted without too much complaint. The more the merrier, as they say.

Now, one month into his sentence, Lavi was sitting in his cell, observing his near spotless clean wall. He heaved a refreshed sigh, finally finished with the job he had started what seemed to be so long ago. Between labor, recreation time, and talking to Allen, the broken tidbits in which he was actually able to scrub his walls, floor, toilet, and bed frame had amounted to something he himself could call perfect. For a prison cell, anyways. Now that this was done, he could start on all that homework that needed to be done before he got out of here… It was being sent in from his Gramps by the bucket loads, and if he didn't begin it now it would never be finished. He had all the books necessary, and he thanked the heavens that he was a smart individual, because without being so this would be much harder. Across the hall he heard Kanda cutting something into the cement walls. The Oriental man had a habit of doing that whenever bored; Lavi really wished he would stop it due to the distractions it caused. Allen seemed to be day-dreaming about nothing in particular, the pale face staring at the top bunk's bottom while stroking Tim in his gloved hand.

Lavi had yet to see why the boy kept his left arm so secretive.. Even when they had gone to the showers, Allen would either wait for one of the very few stalls to open, or refuse to shower at all. Lavi did not have the patience Allen had though, so learning to shower in front of other men just became a calloused habit. At first it was horribly awkward. The one eyed red head being surrounded by naked bodies of his sex wasn't a concept he was comfortable with; not to mention the phrase "Don't drop the soap" constantly popped into his head. One time a male had actually drop his soap, and Lavi had held his breath, afraid of what would come next. Do his relief the fellow Juvie was able to just pick it up without anyone even seeming to care about what had happened. Guess Juvenile Prison wasn't as desperate as the real deal… Which made Lavi want to avoid ever stepping near an adult one.

He went back to concentrating on his work, but ended up being interrupted regardless by his more friendly hall mate.

"What're you doing?"

"Just some homework."

"How is it?"

"Tough… but I'll manage." The older smirked to himself and continued to solving equations.

"Can I see?"

"Yeah, ok." He shifted himself up and off his bed to walk over to the bars and present the paperwork to his friend "Ta-daa~!"

Allen's eyes bugged and he stumbled back a bit. "What language is that?"

"Calculus." Giggled Lavi. It was always amusing to see Allen react to things he didn't know anything about. The white haired youth continued to stare at the paper, taking in as much information as he could from the strangely aligned numbers.

"You can understand all that?"

"I get the jist of it…" He thumbed through the packet with a tired smile. "It takes a lot of effort though."

"Lavi are you a genius?"

For a minute all the red head could do was stare at Allen, who had a perfectly genuine face on. He saw nothing wrong with the question he had just asked. Nothing about it was strange, awkward, or out of place, which is what made Allen so interesting. Lavi had to admit that out of all the people he had ever met, Allen was top of the A-list. He was just so… pure. In a way. Though he had no idea what had gotten Allen in this place for a sentence as long as he was given (for Allen wouldn't tell him), the boy kept up a curious input to everything. The world Lavi had come from was magical, mysterious, and filled with foreign things made of lights, technology and crafted metal. It was very different from this castle of stone and cement.

"Haha, I'm not a genius Allen. But I have been told I'm pretty intelligent."

"Oh… yes!" Allen smiled through his bars. The kid was easily pleased whenever it came to a anything Lavi said or did. In the past four weeks the younger had clung onto the older similar to a child to a parent. At first it had weirded the eye patched delinquent out, what with Allen being a fellow male and all… But within the first two weeks he just accepted it as one of Allen's natural quirks and rolled with it. He was pretty shocked at Allen's ability to stand up in this place without getting too many bruises (besides the ones occupying his eye and mouth). His young friend seemed to be the perfect description of what Lavi called "jail bait". Maybe this place wasn't as harsh as real prison, but Lavi still overheard stories from some of the other inmates, which left him to ponder if something like that ever happened to Allen. Even being a man himself, Lavi made himself look at his friend from a sicko's point of view.

The unstained, white hair, the pouty lips, the gullible personality, the short and fragile body frame… Allen was, by Lavi's estimated definition, a rape magnet. He just appeared to be the type to attract any sort of pedophile or rapist, and easily be tricked into the acts they might have in mind. His fingers gripped the bars tightly for a moment. He didn't want anything to happen to Allen. Besides Kanda, Allen was his only friend, and he really didn't take to Kanda's company that much. He had made up his mind the day when Allen had come back from Tyki's conference, broken and morose looking, that he'd protect his one strand from going insane, no matter the risk.

He had asked himself on many occasions as to whether his willingness towards Allen was normal or not, and he simply wrote it off as need for human companionship.

Footsteps started to ascend down the hallway, and Lavi was pleased to see his ever-frowning guard come to undo the barred locks and let the boys out for some free time.

"Hey, Two-spot! How ya doin'"

"I will not tolerate such insults."

"It wasn't an insult… it was a nick name…"

"Regardless. It was unacceptable."

"OK, there Sergeant."

"Stop it, or I'll leave you in there."

Lavi put his hands up in submission and let the Dutch man do his job without further harassment. As always, next came Allen, then Kanda, and the rest of the prisoners in Section 3.

"Yo, Al, you wanna head outside for some fresh air?"

"Air? Lavi there is air inside."

"No… I mean like… better air.."

"Better air…?"

"Never mind."

He ruffled Allen's snowy head and they tromped after Link who was heading out in a steady march. Kanda just walked beside them, fuming as always and causing a negative environment.

Once outside, Lavi handed Allen another one of the candy bars (those girls gave him way too many…), ravishing in the view of a perfectly happy Allen chomping away at it. A couple of other boys were playing basketball, some playing poker, an exclusive group to the side smoking a rare collection of cigarettes. It was sunny and warm, bringing about an overall good feeling between the inmates. Apparently, it was too good. Lavi felt a head flop onto his shoulder and startled a bit before realizing it was just Allen who had fallen asleep. He gulped a bit before attempting to poke his friend back to life.

"Allen… Dude wake up…"

"No… Don't poke me…"

"You can't just sleep on my shoulder in public… You're asking to get beaten up, kiddo…"

"But the ground is so hard.. and it's so warm…"

"Allen…"

Lavi finally pushed Allen off of him and got greeted with a rather grumpy fifteen year old's glare. Allen harrumphed, then grabbed Lavi's jumpsuit collar and started leading him someplace. Kanda got up as well, before getting a thin finger shoved in his face.

"Dumb twats stay here."

"You picking a fight, Moyashi?"

"No. I just don't want you with me right now. I just want geniuses, like Lavi."

Lavi blushed and shied away, unsure how exactly to react to that statement. Kanda on the other hand, just snorted in Allen's face before calling out the embarrassed red head.

"What have you been telling this kid?"

"Nothing… he got it on his own."

"Lavi is super smart. He speaks Calcularium."

"Allen… Calculus isn't a foreign language.."

"It's not?"

"No…"

By this point their Japanese stalker had stormed off and was joining in a basketball game, already calling out the toughest looking guy there. Lavi might have been worried if it was some one other than Kanda. Their long haired acquaintance was able to fight off just about anyone… anyone but Link that was. Link was like… a Soviet troop or something…

Allen continued to lead Lavi to a secluded section of the recreational center. He stopped at a green door with the words "JANITOR" painted on it. The paint was peeling off and rust was starting to peak its ugly existence through the cracks. The younger fished around in the pocket not containing Tim and pulled out a dark colored key.

"Allen?"

"This way, no one can bug us."

The youth slip the key into the lock, and with a successful "click" was able to enter the closet-sized room. Lavi followed in after, noticing the lack of any supplies taking up residence here. Each shelf was empty, no tools that could have been used to clean anything resided here anymore. Maybe once, in a time long before Lavi's arrival, but now it was just a tiny room. A tiny room with an Allen now sitting on the floor.

"Allen, what is this?"

"The supervisor thought I was having a rough time, so he gave me the key to this room so I could come here whenever… I haven't needed it since you've been here though…"

"Oh… I see." Lavi sat next to Allen on the floor, closing the door behind him, and was pleasantly surprised to find a window in one corner so warm sunlight could still filter through. "How long have you been coming here?"

"A while." Typical Allen answer. When it came to time periods he was horribly vague, so relying on him for remembering events would be pointless. "Supervisor's a pretty nice guy."

"Haven't met him yet."

"You will soon… He just doesn't get a lot of time off lately…"

"Ah…"

The pleasant conversation was enrapturing and all, but Lavi still wasn't able to get over the fact that he was sitting in a confined space with Allen. It was a bit daunting to say the least… He would have never done this with anyone else. Never. He wasn't even sure how he was handling this moment with Allen. He justified it with the youth's socially awkward persona and tried to calm down a bit. No one could see them here. They weren't going to get picked out as some same sex couple that had joined up in prison. Hopefully… He couldn't weed out the fact that Allen had pulled him along and they'd disappeared from everyone else's line of view… Fuck. Not like he cared much anyway, but still. It was demeaning to his pride as a man.

He stiffened up as, once again, Allen's soft head dropped onto his shoulder. Part of him wanted to scoot over and get out of head-resting range. The other part was relatively fine with this action, and even encouraged it. The two completely opposite emotions conflicted one another and made Lavi's heart start pounding in his ears. He tried his best to find comfort with it, no matter how much that one part of him just wanted to get away. If Allen was happy, then he should learn to be happy with it. That was the thought process he had adopted.

"Lavi?"

"Yeah Allen?"

"You OK?"

"Sure thing Kiddo." No he wasn't ok. He had another guy trying to sleep on his shoulder for God's sake! How could this be OK? He liked ladies… Maybe Allen looked like a lady… but under that jumpsuit Lavi could have bet his life savings that his snow capped friend was all man. And two men essentially cuddling in a closet so no one else could see? Not only was it ironic, it was kind of homo… A lot of homo. Was Allen a…?

"If you're not ok with this… I don't want to force you…"

"No… it's fine…"

"You don't sound fine…" Allen lifted his head and looked up to the red head. Soft silver eyes challenged the single green gem in a mixed conflict of obscurities. "I'm sorry…"

He scooched away from Lavi and put his chin on his knees, like an upright fetal position.

Lavi felt a rock in his stomach. It wasn't his intention to make Allen feel bad or anything… it was just weird to be so close. Very weird. But not… bad. He let out a sigh and beckoned Allen back over.

"Come here."

"But I thought-"

"Don't think or hesitate. I might change my mind."

"Oh… ok." Allen crawled back over to his older friend's side and resumed his comfortable position on an awaiting shoulder. "Hmmmm…" He made a contented mewl and melted into the contact.

The hairs on the back of Lavi's neck had started out bristling, but were slowly getting accustomed to the incredibly close setting Allen was creating. His one eye scanned the door to make sure nobody was watching, and he reached up a hand to lock the door. The last thing he needed was Kanda or some other brute to come by and mistake this for something more personal.

He took this opportunity to look down at the boy inhabiting his shoulder, taking in all the details. Even with the pentagram scar and temporary bruises, Allen was… pretty. Not girl pretty, but he was definitely something to look at. He had no acne (shocking after the time he'd spent here), a slim physique, round and pink lips… pretty. He wasn't sure what to do with these thoughts automatically storing this memory away in one of his many file cabinets. So what if he thought Allen was pretty? That didn't make him gay or anything… It just meant he knew what people looked like. That was all. It was like looking at Leonardo DiCaprio or something. Guys weren't running in front of the man and pulling their pants down, but they knew he was good looking.

But Lavi didn't think of Allen being pretty like Leo was. No, the two were very different. Allen was just beautiful. His mannerisms were unaffected by this miniature hell, he spoke his thoughts directly, usually having them consist of something weird or just naturally kind hearted. Allen was good inside and out. Beautiful. He was a one of a kind, no one else out there like him. It almost made Lavi a bit jealous. So many kids were able to be top of their class, several kids ended up in jail at some point or another… other than his eye patch, Lavi was just another face in the crowd. His thoughts were like that of a normal teenage boy his age, and his mannerisms were picked up by those around him. He hadn't had the time or courage to sit with himself and figure out just who he was. Allen, however, had tons of time to do just that. He knew what kind of individual resided within, and (despite the angry four year old attitude) it was genuine to Lavi.

Soon enough the sun rays started to get to him as well, and his head fell down onto Allen's. He didn't have the time or concern to think of what he was doing, it just happened and he gave into the soothing tiredness lulling him to surrender. If Allen had an issue with it, he didn't say anything. The moment was just quiet and serene, no one able to disrupt it unless they were able to locate the two. He wouldn't admit it immediately, or any time soon for that matter, but the older found that Allen's company was three times more pleasant than any prison bed.

And… Perhaps it was just his imagination from the warmth-caused fatigue… But he was almost positive that he felt Allen's hand curl around his…

To Be Continued…..

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** Was any progress really made in this chapter?**

** Other than the times skip and some more fluff… not much.**

**Reviews are well liked :D**


	5. Supervisor

**First time not updating by the nest day… In my defense I had a lot of homework, so try not to hold it too harshly against me.**

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"Wakey, wakey~!"

Lavi opened his eye to the bleary light making its way through. He put hand to his mouth and wiped away any drool that might have escaped from his previously agape mouth. Before him stood a man wearing half cut glasses and an outdated beret. A large smile split open from the man and he poked Lavi once more in the chest. "Having fun, are we?"

"Huh?" It was then that Lavi realized the kind of position he was in. His back against the wall, legs sprawled out in front of him, one arm lazily lying there, the other wrapped securely around an Allen who's head was rested snuggly into his chest. "WHA! ALLEN!"

He threw his shorter companion off him, getting a befuddled look from the just waking youth. Allen looked to the left, the right, back again, until he had apparently gather his bearings and eased himself against the wall next to Lavi. Now a bit more lucid, he inquired the situation that had caused his violent awakening.

"Lavi… why did you throw me?"

"You were sleeping on me."

"You said it was OK…"

"I said to sleep on my shoulder was ok, not full on, cuddle time."

"I didn't do it on purpose." Allen looked down at his hands. "It was just so comfy, I guess my body acted on its own…" He made a pouty face at Lavi, causing the older to face palm. Such an innocent description from a fifteen year old would only be accepted by Allen, and no one else. He gathered his bearings and pointed out the man still squatting and grinning in front of them.

"Know who that is?"

"You can ask me, ya know." Said the man.

"Supervisor." Allen smiled politely at the Asian looking fellow. "Hi."

"Hi to you to, Allen. Who's your new friend?" The oldest out of the three resting in the room put a finger and thumb to his chin before examining Lavi head to toe.

"We're just friends, by the way…" Lavi held his hands up and away from Allen, trying to wave off any sort of connection this guy might make from the actions witnessed moments ago. "Just friends…"

"Sure thing, Newbie. Anyways, Allen! Long time no see!" He patted the kid's head and bestowed upon him a gracious smile. "How have things been going?"

"Oh… Good! This is Lavi." He pointed out the confounded red head. "How did you find us?"

"How did you get in?" Lavi looked from the door to beret guy, and back to the door. He was sure he had locked it… Securing that something like this wouldn't happen.

"Um, I'm the Supervisor." The man held up an array of keys. "I can get in anywhere around here." He jut his hand in Lavi's face, pushing for a handshake. "Komuii Lee."

"Lavi."

"Knew that already."

"Pfft."

"Any who, Allen," Komuii continued his chat with the snow cap. "I knew you were here because once recreational time had ended, Link was complaining that he couldn't find you two. He was quite positive that the both of you had run off and tried to break out. I couldn't imagine someone like Allen doing that though, and from I hear you" he stuck a finger practically up Lavi's nose, "aren't really a criminal at all. Just a stupid kid who made some bad decisions."

"Lavi's a genius." Allen inputted. "He speaks Calcularia."

"Calculus, Allen. Calculus. And it's not a language." Lavi sighed.

"Continuing," the Supervisor adjusted his glasses. "I told Link that I knew exactly where you guys were and that there was nothing to worry about. And low and behold? I did! Ten Points for Komuii!" He clapped his hands together in a childish manner before going on to pat himself on the back. The guy sure liked to praise himself for a job well done… It wasn't even that big of a deal. Lavi rolled his eye and did his best to stomach the flamboyant nuisance in front of him.

"Alright, well I told them it would take a while for me to get to the place you guys were hiding. Who wants hot chocolate?"

"ME!" Allen's hand shot up and, in the process, he almost knocked out the irritated red head sitting next to him.

"Allen, chill!" Sometimes the antics of Lavi's younger companion were just so out of line for someone his age, that it got a bit embarrassing for himself. He was like a rambunctious first grader, not very good at talking, when he had something to say it was usually rather unimportant and elementary, his tendency to get excited over most everything Lavi did… It was like the eye patched delinquent was reliving the "Little Buddy" system all over again, but this time he got the cool little buddy that everyone else wanted, despite how awkward he could be.

"Alrighty then, let's go!" Komuii helped Allen to stand up, leaving Lavi to pick himself off the ground. They walked out into the dimming sunlight, the faint sound of frogs singing in the background. It was a fairly nice day. One didn't get to enjoy this time of day normally in a prison, and Lavi was now pretty glad that he and Allen had overslept in that Janitor's closet. The clouds were painted up in yellows and oranges one would more often associate with a fire. The Sun was still peeking over the horizon, but slowly it made its journey down to dream beyond the Earth's visible edge.

Allen had run ahead, leaving Lavi and Komuii alone in each other's company. Lavi made sure his friend didn't get too far ahead, in case something might happen to cause Allen's harm.

"So how was it that you and Allen got acquainted?" Komuii leaned in close to the red head's face, producing an annoying intrusion on his personal space.

"I don't really know…. We just started talking and it's not like I know anyone else here… So it just kind of happened I guess."

"You're not leading him on, are you?"

"Huh?"

The older man's face got serious. "You aren't just screwing with Allen, right? I'd hope that someone like you wouldn't think it funny to lead other people's emotions around like that. But, we have just met so I can never be sure."

"Oh…" Lavi scratched his head. "Well, no. Even though he's weird and can be a bit too touchy sometimes… Allen and I get along pretty good."

"Good. I think Allen needs someone right about now…"

The younger's interest piqued. "How do you mean?"

"From what I've heard he's been going through a rough time… Unfortunately we can't seem to locate the reason why. He doesn't tell people about himself, not even the prison counselor. We don't have much of a background on him either due to the fact that his one parent died some time ago…" Komuii trailed off there and looked back to Lavi who had stopped a few steps back.

"Allen's parents died?"

"The one we know of."

"What happened?"

"Allen hasn't told you yet?"

"No…"

"Then I'll leave it at that."

They traveled in silence for bit before Lavi picked up again.

"Doesn't Allen have an Uncle?"

"We haven't heard from him in quite some time."

"Any other family members?"

"Nope." Komuii sighed. "It's rather upsetting, don't you think? The best behaved inmate I've ever met, and he doesn't even have a family to return to like you or I. That's why I had to make sure you weren't just bullshitting him. I don't think Allen can take much more rejection before he breaks."

Lavi looked down at his shoes. Why was it that Allen had to go through stuff like this? He was good kid, from what he could see. Never spoke a bad word to anyone other than Kanda (there was good reason for that), Never fought back, didn't even seem to complain about being here. Lavi couldn't count the number of times he had ranted to Allen about being stuck here, and each time he would just listen to the red head and smile, simply happy that someone was talking with him. His heart felt like it was being tugged lightly by some sort of invisible force. It started doing that whenever he thought about any kind of pain Allen might be going through… Like an alarm system, but a rather late one. Like if a robber had taken all the money and ten minutes later the sirens started up. He didn't care much for the majority of people he knew. They were all self absorbed and, even if they did nice things, it was to make themselves look better. Allen however… He wasn't even aware of the good nature he possessed. No one else seemed to either… Like a special wrapped gift for Lavi and only Lavi.

In time they had all arrived at an office with papers littered all about the floor. Allen had already taken a big comfy sofa couch and was sipping from a mug filled with, what Lavi assumed to be, hot liquid. Off to one corner there stood a girl with pig tails and a short mini skirt. Her hair was long and black, similar to the unique boots climbing up her graceful legs. Lavi couldn't help but gawk for a moment, taking in the slim frame with his single eye, carefully storing all the details away for later consultancy. His peep show was cut short, though, by a rolled up magazine hitting him on the back of the head. He turned around to see a very angry looking Komuii, poised to strike again.

"You keep your filthy eyes off my little sister, you hear?"

Lavi's eye twitched while he replied with a feeble "Ok…" After that he made it his mission to look anywhere but at the cute girl. It was still rather difficult even with the threat issued, he hadn't seen anyone remotely close to female in so long. The closest was probably Allen, but that wasn't really a satisfactory substitute. The girl headed over and handed him a mug similar to Allen's with a graceful smile playing upon her lips. After taking the mug with a "Thank you", Lavi was met with a delicate hand wavering in front of his face.

"I'm Lenalee."

"Oh…uh, Lavi." He shook the hand cautiously, not wanting Komuii to come over and murder him. He snuck glance's up into the girl's face. She was pretty cute… Round, Asian face with soft brown eyes filled with a deep secret Lavi could never even hope to reveal. She giggled and the sound reminded him of bubbles popping in a bath tub.

"What are you looking at?"

"Anything but you, miss…."

She giggled again. God that sound was refreshing. "Why wouldn't you look at me?"

"You're brother…" He gulped, catching an ominous glare from the other side of the room.

"Oh." Her smile faded and she quickly let go of Lavi's hand to pivot around, now facing her older brother. "Brother, stop trying to scare every guy I meet!"

"But Lenalee, he was looking at you like-"

"Why does that matter? It just means I'm cute, right?"

Lavi felt his breath hitch in his throat. Yeah she was cute.. But it wasn't like he wanted her to think he was some kind of ogling pervert.

"Well, but Lenalee… If they look at you like that-"

"You saying you don't want me to be cute?"

"No… Lena-"

Allen was laughing into the couch, doing his best not to make himself to noticed. Lavi looked over to him and shared a look, both trying to stifle their laughter. It was rather hard though; Komuii looked so utterly serious, despite how everyone else knew his sister was messing with him. At that instance, a short man with curly hair and glasses came stumbling in, carrying with him a large stack of papers.

"Supervisor! You should sign these…." His voice wasn't very strong, which lead Lavi to believe he probably wasn't an authoritative individual.

Komuii whipped his head around and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm on break, Johnny."

"Really…?"

""Yep."

"Reever said you went on break two hours ago…"

"Still on break."

"Supervisor that's too long!"

"I'll get them done when I come back." The Supervisor pushed his glasses back into place (they had slipped a bit after his episode with Lenalee.), and with that turned around to drive his point home that he wasn't leaving.

"Uh… ok then… But don't be on break for too much longer!"

"Got it."

Lavi made a mental note on the Supervisor's incapability of efficiently doing his work. He returned back to Allen, only to see the younger boy getting his cheek pinched by Lenalee.

"Le-Lenalee.. Stop… It hurts…"

"But Allen, you're so adorable!"

With that she flung a hug at him, causing raised eyebrows from the red head, and a smoldering glare from Komuii. Allen's bruised cheeks turn a deep red and he stiffened up, as if to insinuate that he was rather distressed by the hug Lenalee had given him. Lavi guessed it must have been weird to have the older brother in the room shooting daggers with his mind the entire time through it, but from he could see Allen wasn't even looking at Komuii.

Soon enough, Lenalee stopped her hug attack and sat herself between the two boys. "So how are things, Allen?"

"Oh..um… Better…"

"That's good to hear!" She petted his head, Allen shied away. He actually looked… annoyed… Lavi couldn't find a reason for why his younger friend would be so against all the attention he was receiving from the rather good looking girl, until he remembered what Allen had told him the first day the red head had been imprisoned: Allen thought girls were dumb. That was what Allen had said anyway. Lavi would have used a more adult word to describe dislike for something, but Allen wasn't even close to being an adult. He heard Lenalee start talking again. "So who's this Lavi guy? Care to explain?"

"We're friends." Allen's usual monotone facial expression took place. Apparently he was done being social with the girl.

"Well I'm glad you made a friend other than me! Branching out is always a good thing, Allen. Maybe someday the three of us could take a fieldtrip out of here and have a picnic or something!"

Lavi gave the girl a disbelieving look. "Listen, miss…"

"Call me Lenalee."

"Ok… Lenalee. Me and Allen are Juvenile prison inmates… we're not just allowed to leave and go do fun things, that disrupts the whole point of it all."

Her face fell for a minute before her brother cut in. "Well I can always make changes to that!"

Both Allen and Lavi turned to Komuii, not sure how to respond. The eccentric man continued, "I am the supervisor after all, and as long as I am there 'supervising', there should be no problem!"

"Supervisor," Lavi drawled out, "We're still in prison… aren't you making things a bit too easy on us?"

The red head wrinkled his nose as Komuii poked his forehead. "Well aren't you the little Ally of Justice? Makes a bit of sense though. Your record says that, before landing a spot in here, you were top of the class, and didn't even have a single detention. Clean slate."

Lavi scowled. "What of it?"

"What I'm saying," Komuii stepped back, "Is that you don't really qualify as a quality criminal. You're just an idiot who took things too far."

"Thanks."

Lenalee butted in. "Wait, if you're so smart and well-behaved, how did you get in here?"

Lavi realized that all eyes were now on him, each pair interested in how a guy as well off as he was hit rock bottom.

"I hacked a federal server."

Allen made a double take, his head jerking back in confusion. "What?"

"I was just trying to see if I could do it." Lavi heaved an enormous sigh. "My friend gave me some kind of code and he wanted to see what it went to. I tracked it down and discovered it belonged to some high up FBI guy or something. So I decided to see if I had the brains to hack into his files, maybe look at some cool top secret stuff." He ran a hand through his fiery hair. "Turns out I did… But they put up a customized firewall before I even got a chance to look at anything. They hunted down my IP address and soon enough," He raised his hands for effect, "I was in cuffs and getting lawsuits thrown in my face for snooping."

Allen's eyes were wide with wonder. "They had walls of fire?"

Lavi slumped down, already used to Allen's lack of technology smarts. "Not the kind you're thinking of. It's a barrier made for computers to protect them from dumb asses like me."

"Wow you are really smart…" Lenalee fixed her eyes on the older boy with interest. "I thought you might've done something really dangerous. The eye patch threw me off."

"Nope." Lavi leaned back. "I'm just a useless hacker."

"Why do you wear an eye patch?" This time Allen was trying to get passed Lenalee, straining his neck over her to see Lavi.

"That's actually a good question…" Komuii put a finger to his chin, and like before, Lavi had all eyes on him. "You aren't particularly touch looking, and there are no records of violence in your file. How'd you lose the eye?"

Lavi reached a hand up the patch, touching it lightly. "Remember in that movie, 'A Christmas Story' where the dad kept telling his kid 'You can't have a bee bee gun, you'll shoot your eye out, kid,'" Everyone with the exception of Allen nodded. "Well, I shot my eye out."

"That must have hurt…" Allen whispered.

"I don't even really remember it. One moment I had my bee bee gun, the next I was in the hospital with Gramps yelling at me about how much of an idiot I was."

"Yeah but the eye patch," Komuii grimaced, "You couldn't have gotten a glass eye or something?"

Lavi leaned into his palm with his elbow resting on the couch arm. "What's scarier, an eye that never blinks, or an eye patch?"

"Good point."

Lenalee bounced a little and turned back to Allen. "Allen, your new friend's so interesting!"

Allen blushed. "Oh… um yes…"

She grabbed both sides of the white haired youth's head and started to rub the locks with vigor. Allen made a struggling sound, but was unable to escape the girl's unrelenting display of affection. Lavi sat back and watched the two, feeling at peace with the situation. For a minute he forgot that he was in prison and had to spend another five months here. Making friends with Allen was definitely the right idea. Without doing so life may have been a whole lot harder, perhaps ending altogether at the end of some rusty knife held by an exceptionally dangerous prisoner (Most likely Kanda. Allen was the only one able to insult the man without getting the full extent of Kanda's rage).

Suddenly he felt someone hug onto his arm tightly, interrupting him from his personal thoughts. It was Allen, trying to escape from Lenalee's tickling embrace.

"Lavi, save me! I don't want anymore!"

Lavi gave a bored expression and replied "Dude, I can't do anything. She's a girl."

"Why not?"

"You never fight a girl. Gentlemen's code."

"See? Lavi knows what's good for him!" Lenalee giggled, her hands still grasping for Allen and hitting their target. She started moving her fingers in a way that caused the younger boy to laugh uncontrollably.

"NO! HAHA…..LENA- NO MORE! HAHA! I CAN'T…. I'M CRYING, OH NO…" Sure enough there were tears streaming down Allen's face from the enthusiasm he was probably going through. Lavi grinned and stayed out of it, watching his friend being assaulted by a cute girl. He was a bit jealous, frankly. Allen didn't even like girls and he was currently being tickled by one. He liked girls and got nothing. Life wasn't fair. A light bulb started flickering in the recesses of Lavi's mind.

Allen had told Lavi he didn't like girls. At the time Allen had specified that he didn't like anyone, not interested in dating at all… But the boy was perfectly fine with sleeping on Lavi's shoulder or hugging his arm, or being clingy with him… It brought him back to a thought he hadn't completed earlier that day. Maybe the kid wasn't as honest about his interests as he was letting on. Maybe not even Allen knew it… Lavi swallowed. If Allen was homosexual, it really wouldn't bother him. The problem was, he was afraid his younger friend may be interested in him, and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Komuii had told him earlier that he shouldn't bullshit Allen or lead him on. What if he had been doing it without knowing it? What if, because he let Allen do those things, he was giving him the incentive that the red head might feel something for him. He looked back to the youth who was occupying his speculations, finally having escaped the tickle attack and now sitting as far from Lenalee as he could get, which was to no avail since the long haired Asian girl persisted on being close to him. Lavi bit his thumbnail nervously. He'd have to seriously contemplate his answer if Allen asked him out… It wasn't likely, but just in case his friend thought they were more than friends, he needed to be prepared with the right answer and a rebuttal that wouldn't cause Allen any harm to his feelings.

He felt bad thinking this way of Allen, but if his predictions turned out to be true… He'd need to find a way out of the predicament while still keeping Allen as a close ally.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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**Lenalee entrance! I had such a hard time before thinking of where I**

**Could put her… It seems to have worked out alright though…**

**Finally we learn what Lavi did (don't know how likely**

**It is, but I thought it would be a viable reason to get Lavi in jail…)**

**Reviews are much appreciated ****J**


	6. Nice and Mean

**This chapter… longest one so far…**

**I was really into this one, so I hope you guys like it :D **

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Things got a bit easier for Lavi after that day. Within the next week he and Allen had gotten assigned to all the easy jobs, like kitchen duty or sweeping floors. The week after that they got an extra hour of recreational time every other day so long as he and Allen were with the Supervisor. He was almost afraid the other inmates would notice the special treatment him and his younger companion were receiving, but as it was they hardly existed in the eyes of most of them. Kanda was the only one apparently aware, but he didn't make much of a fuss about it. He had said something about not wanted to be part of the extended fag party and snorted before leaving to pick fights.

The only downside to the past two weeks were when Tyki came to take Allen out of his cell, still making the boy jittery and highly unresponsive upon return. Allen continued to not tell Lavi what was going on. The red head really wanted to get down to the bottom of it, but couldn't since Tyki only came while they were in their cells, meaning Lavi couldn't follow them to find out. It frustrated him to no end, the look Allen would get after these so-called conferences. He wouldn't even look at Lavi for a good few hours after they happened, and speaking took a great amount of coaxing on the eye patched Juvie's part. One day it was so bad Allen wouldn't even come out to eat, worrying even Kanda (though he wouldn't admit it), since their white haired friend was known to have a vicious appetite. Lavi was hoping that the picnic Komuii had promised them next week would cheer Allen up, give him a good shot at seeing the outside world.

Today started out as quite a few of them had. Lavi was working on his homework for high school, Allen pulling on Tim's cheek in the cell across, and Kanda still carving something into his wall. The familiar boots of Link made their way down the hallway and up to Allen's cell. The two shared a word between each other, making it so the red head couldn't hear what it was they were saying. This quite tested him, for they were looking back at him every few seconds and he had no idea as to why. Finally Link stepped away and continued onwards, away from their sector. Lavi waited until he was out of hearing range before addressing Allen.

"Yo, Al."

"Hmm?"

"What was that all about?"

"Oh…" The boy looked at his feet. "Nothing."

"Don't tell me nothing. Come on, you two were talking about me right?" Lavi pointed a finger to his own face and quirked a smile.

"How did you-?" Allen gasped. "I mean… no. We were talking about…." He looked up, searching his cell for some kind of cover up. "Cats."

"Cats."

"Yes. Link likes them. Me too. So we talked about them."

"Bullshit. What did he really say?"

"I'll tell you at free time."

"Both of you shut the fuck up, I'm concentrating." The low growl came from Kanda. The red head heaved a breath of air out from the bottom of his lungs, knowing their samurai-wannabe acquaintance was probably doing nothing needing real concentration.

"Alright, Allen. Talk to you then."

"Yes."

"SHUT UP."

It was another few hours when their recreational period came around, Link releasing them from their cells and many of the previously encaged inmates stretched luxuriously. They both waited for Kanda, but apparently he wasn't interested in being social today since he stormed past without a second glance. It didn't bother the duo too much though. At this point they were just used to it. Kanda's actions were unpredictable and usually without thought or reason, which made Allen and Lavi not want to be around him all that much.

After lunch they sat outside, away from the others playing games or fighting or sharing a drag. Lavi looked down to Allen, taking this chance opportunity he had been waiting for to re-ask his question.

"So what did Link say to you about me?"

Allen pursed his lips and curled his knees to his chest. "He asked me to ask you something."

"And?"

"And I don't know if I should ask you…"

Lavi ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the wall they were sitting by. "Promise I won't get mad."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky Promise?" Allen held out his gloved pinky to Lavi and retained his normal genuine expression.

"Sure." Lavi wrapped his pinky around Allen's and they did a little sway with their hands before the red head continued on. "So what was it?"

"Link asked me…" Allen took a deep breath, "If I could ask you to let me move into your cell…"

Lavi raised his eyebrow, surprised. "He was asking for permission?"

"I guess it was Supervisor's idea…" Allen trailed off, "They're moving a new person into my cell, and since Kanda's too dangerous, and Supervisor doesn't think I'll do well with a new room-mate, he asked Link to ask me tot ask you if it was ok…"

The older one smiled. "Yeah, sure. Not to worry. Why were you so nervous to ask?"

"I don't want to intrude…"

"You're not intruding. Besides. Who knows what would happen if you went into some psychopath's cell and I wasn't there?" He gestured one of the more mean looking delinquents. "Something bad might happen to you."

"I'll try to give you alone time."

"All I ask is a little space to do my homework and we'll be great."

"Thanks Lavi." Allen looked back to his fiery headed companion and squeezed a little smile. "For everything."

Lavi shrugged indifferently. "Not sure what I did, but ok."

"Things were really bad before you came…"

""Oh yeah? Like how?" He tried once again to pry into Allen's emotions, wanting to know what kind of things were going on with the snow capped boy.

"Just bad."

"No details?"

Allen started drawing circles in the dust on the ground with his finger. "It used to be… before… I had no one. Well, before the before, I had Tyki… but then he…"

"He what?" Lavi leaned in closely. He wanted to know what Allen was going through. Why he was so afraid of the tall Portuguese man with curly hair. "Come on, Allen. I promise I won't tell anyone." Allen seemed to be attached to promises, so Lavi used that knowledge to get the information he wanted.

"Nothing." Allen buried his face into his knees. "Nothing. I was just… telling stories… It's nothing…"

Lavi fell back to his previous position against the wall. It always happened like this. Allen would start opening up and dropping hints, but would then crawl right back into his shell and close the door to the subject. He reached out a hand and started to pet the boy's unusually soft, white hair. There was nothing else he could do in this situation, like so many of the situations involving Allen's feelings. Since he kept being locked out and couldn't find an entrance to his friend's mind, it seemed that Allen was intent on keeping himself alone in that dark place no one else could get into. It drove Lavi crazy.

Maybe by having Allen move into his cell with him, the kid would open up more to him. That was the main reason he had agreed to it, plus the fact that if anyone else lived with Allen, he was positive they'd emaciate the young snow cap.

For the mean time, Lavi wasn't sure as to what he should do. These times when Allen would shove his face into his knees and block out the world left the red head all to himself and with no one to talk to. Maybe if Kanda was there they could throw a few insults back and forth, but the Asian fire cracker was out picking fights with other people right now. He looked back to Allen, inspecting his younger friend for the billionth time. No matter how many times he did it, there was always more to see. Even with Allen not showing his face right now, he could see beyond just the expressions and facial structure. The boy's right arm, pale and thin, yet still muscular from prison duties, exposed since the sleeve was rolled up. The other arm, still covered by the jump suit material, and a gloved hand just to make it all the more mysterious. Allen never showed it, he was always careful to dress in a place within the cell where Lavi couldn't see it. There were so many mysteries behind the boy… Where he had come from, where his parents were, why he was in here, what caused him to be so upset that he'd shut himself in and block all else out. Allen was a puzzle. One that Lavi desperately wanted to solve.

There wasn't an extra hour of recreational time for them today, for Komuii was busy with work and couldn't keep an eye on them. It was kind of weird, to be babysat again, when normally Lavi was doing the babysitting in the outside world. When Link came to herd all the men and boys inside Allen slowly uncurled himself and stood up. Lavi had already been standing, offering a hand to Allen if he needed it. But instead, the younger rejected the hand and went for Lavi's back, clinging onto his jump suit like a lost little kid. The red head felt Allen's face press into his shoulder blades. It was as if his friend was hiding away from everything, trying to find comfort within Lavi's form.

"Allen? You ok?"

No reply.

"Alright, well I'm gonna start walking now, alright?"

No reply.

"Ok, here I go…"

He took a step forward and in that instance so did Allen. The boy stayed clutching onto the older's back and staying unseen. Lavi tried to just accept the behavior and move forward, back to their sector. He overheard some comments from the other inmates, muttering words like "queer" and "fags". He snorted. More than being mad at Allen for putting him in this situation, he was pissed at the prisoners here who would say such things after driving the youth to this fragile point with all their picking on him. If they didn't want to see such things, they should just look away. That or quit picking on Allen so he wouldn't have to bury his nose into Lavi's spine.

Link locked all the inmates back up with the exception of Allen and Lavi, pulling them aside for a quick word.

"Bookman Junior,"

"Huh?" Lavi still wasn't used to being called by his last name.

"Walker asked you about it, yes?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine with him moving into my cell."

"Alright then. Go stay in it while I help Walker move his items in."

"Sure thing."

Allen and Link move over to Allen's area, while Lavi watched from his. They grabbed the pillow, blanket and a little box before coming right back over. Lavi raised his eyebrow. That wasn't much stuff for being alone in such a long sentence. He suddenly grimaced. He made a quick shuffle and moved one of his boxes under the bed, not wanting Allen to see what was in it. They were some dirty magazines he'd had Gramps give him during one of his infrequent visits (not that the old man knew what was inside the box, or Lavi would have gotten an earful).

Allen walked over without picking up his feet, and when stepping inside he stared at the walls and floor.

"Where'd all the dirt go…?"

"I cleaned it." The red head replied in a succinct fashion.

"Oh…" Allen was lingering his examination of the wall, acting like it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

"Alright, Walker. I don't want you causing any trouble." Link peered in through the doorway, anticlimactically preparing to close it.

"Do I normally cause trouble?" Allen's innocent inquiry made Lavi smile lightly. There was no way Allen was a trouble maker, but all the same the kid was worried he may have caused Link some sort of bother.

"That goes for you too, Bookman Junior."

"You can call me Lavi…"

"I choose not to get friendly with you delinquents."

"Love you too, Two-spot." The red head watched in great amusement as Link seethed at him one last time before closing and locking the door with agitated finality. That was it. He and Allen were now room-mates.

Allen hugged onto his pillow and looked around. "Where should I sleep…?"

Lavi gestured to the bunk bed lavishly. "You have a choice, my young friend!" He danced around and held his hands out to the unseemly piece of furniture like he was that guy on "Deal or No Deal" who point out which case to choose. "The lovely, low and rather uncomfortable bottom bunk, or the high up, serene top bunk with a great view of the cell!" He added in a cheesy smile to boot, but got discouraged when Allen kept on his usually blank expression.

"I don't know which…"

"It isn't that hard Allen, just choose."

"What if I pick the one you want?"

"I don't care which one I sleep on, it's up to you."

Allen shifted his dull silver irises from the top to the bottom, and back again. "But you're already sleeping on the bottom…"

"I can change if need be. Just choose." Once again the younger's tendency to think of everyone else before him was causing Lavi quite the head ache.

"Um… Top." Allen decided.

"Alright then, let's just get your blank-"

"No no… Bottom…"

"Allen-"

"No wait! Top!" Allen clutched his gloved fist and made a decisive face. "My final choice!"

Lavi heaved a sigh and dragged a hand down his face. He was almost about to say "You sure", but feared it might have the opposite effect. He straightened up and grabbed the bedding materials, heaving them up over his head onto the top bunk.

Allen was just kind of standing there, taking In the new surroundings. He made several turns, appearing to make sure he didn't miss one detail of the place. When Lavi was done making the new attendant's bed, he climbed back down onto the ground and searched his room for a specific box (one that wasn't filled with porn.). He found it and after a bit of rummaging, presented a little set of playing cards to Allen.

"You wanna play?"

Allen's eyes lit up and a smile broke through the normally hollow features. "Poker?"

Lavi was aghast to see Allen make such a face. "Yeah, if you want to." He smiled to himself in accomplishment. Finally he had found something Allen would enjoy that didn't involve giving up his lunch. A nice friendly match would be the perfect house-warming event to ensure Allen's stay here.

As it turned out, playing poker with Allen sucked. Major. What Lavi had mistaken for an innocuous child, actually turned out to be a beguiling cheater. The boy would turn up royal straight flushes out of no where, grinning like a banshee and demanding things like money or clothes from the red head. Since Lavi didn't have money and didn't want to give up his clothes, he put the last ten chocolate bars up for gamble. It wasn't long before every single one was gone and in Allen's possession. After Lavi had lost for the twentieth time in a row, he threw his cards at the younger boy and huffed his resign from the game. When it was over, Allen made a pouty face and hugged his chocolate bars, making sure Lavi got the point that he was upset about the game ending. The worst part was that Lavi knew his friend was cheating, but there was no proof that could be had to prove that he was… Allen was a poker genius. One Lavi did not want to encounter or mess with ever again.

Until dinner things stayed quiet. Lavi did his homework and Allen played with Tim on the top bunk. After dinner Lavi claimed he was sleepy and retired to his bed for the remainder of the night. Getting to sleep early was always a good idea, that way when Link came back at Oh-God 'o' Clock, he was well rested and ready for any jobs to be presented to him.

For the most part he slept in undisturbed peace. His unconscious mind showing him images of what life used to be like before being tossed into prison like some sort of hunk of useless garbage. That conducted the preponderance of Lavi's dreams. Always about what he had done before hacking that server, or what he was going to do at the time of his release. On most occasions his slumbers went without much disruption, but this night was a little different. He felt a persisting poke at his side, trying to arouse him from dreaming. At first he tried to ignore it, hoping it would go away. That was before he heard a distressed Allen voice break through into his protective sleep barrier.

"Lavi…"

He turned over, blinking sleep from his eyes to see his younger friend more clearly. It was hard to do though, since at night the rooms were pretty dark without the luxury of a lamp. "Allen…?"

"Lavi… I had a bad dream… Can I…" There was a pause. "Can I… um… Sleep in your bed?"

"What… like switching beds?" He couldn't really grasp what Allen was saying do to the fuzzy haze his mind was still in.

"No… like… with you…"

Now Lavi was the one making long pauses. Allen wanted to sleep in the same bed as him? His first reaction was no. There was a limit to how much he was going to let Allen get away with, and this may have been it. On the other hand, Allen sounded horribly upset, his voice raspy like he had been crying beforehand. Lavi didn't want to be one of the reasons that Allen would cry. Not ever. If he sent Allen back to go lose himself in nightmares and such, the boy might think he was trying to push him away, and that was the last thing Lavi wanted.

Making up his mind, Lavi scooted over and made room for Allen. "Go ahead."

"If it's not ok, I'll go…"

"No, I don't want you to handle these kind of things on your own. Get in."

"Ok."

There was a light shuffling of sheets and fabric before the white haired youth had climbed in and settled down next to Lavi. The red head slept with his back to Allen, trying not to make this experience too personal. Regardless, the younger put his face against Lavi's back like before and gave a light snuggled before sighing contentedly.

"Thanks Lavi."

"No problem, Al."

"Night, night."

"Night, Al."

"I love you."

Lavi stiffened up and felt his pulse quicken. Did Allen just…? No.. No way. He was hearing things. Apparently Allen felt the older's body go rigid, because his next words were:

"Did I say something wrong…?"

Lavi gripped his bed sheets tightly. To Allen there was nothing wrong with what he had said. It may have been like a kid telling their parent "I love you" before going to bed. Seeing how Allen was quite childlike, he took that to be the answer. But just in case he decided to enquire his friend about it.

"Allen… Did you say 'I love you?'"

"Is that bad?" He felt Allen shift away a little. He could sense the youth squirming in discomfort about the idea that he may have caused Lavi some sort of annoyance.

"Well, not bad…" Lavi chose his next words carefully. "Just, how did you mean it?"

"Like…" He could feel the heat from embarrassment radiating off Allen's body. "You're the most important person to me.. And I love you…"

The breath in the one eyed Juvie's throat hitched for a good moment. His heart beat fastened even more, and he could feel the red blooming across his face in a brightly colored blush. Now he was speaking in almost a whisper. "Like, friend love… or like… LOVE love…?"

"LOVE love?" Allen didn't seem to get it. Great now he had to explain…

"You know… like kissing love.."

There was another awkward pause, this one lasting for what seemed like an eternity. The fact that they were unable to see each other that well in the stifling darkness duplicated the strange feeling bouncing off the cell's walls.

Allen shifted again. "If you wanted me to… I would… kiss you…"

Lavi's blush escalated in size and darkness. No one else could see it, but he had never felt his face heat up like this ever before in his life. Even when girls flirted with him, he was able to keep a straight face and reply with smooth flawless. But now that it was Allen… He didn't know how to react. He had already admitted that Allen was his most important person… And Allen had said the same for him.. but love? Kissing? Lavi was straight… Maybe… He wasn't even sure anymore. How many times had he looked over Allen? How many times had his heart clenched when something bad happened to Allen? How many times did his spirits soar when Allen put on a genuine smile? _We're just friends…_ He tried to convince himself bitterly. Just friends. Nothing else. He liked girls. For sure he liked girls… Why else would he sneak dirty magazines in here? Well… maybe he didn't really like men…. He just liked Allen… If Allen was a girl… maybe things would be different. He felt the blush broaden yet again. Now he was being prejudice. He had always hated people who judged others on their sexuality, and now he was doing the same exact thing. He liked Allen for Allen. Not because he was prettier than everyone else he'd ever met (though the boy was pretty), not because of the advantage Lavi got from being friends with Allen, not because he was boy or girl. Allen was Allen. Allen would always be Allen. And Allen was a boy. Those were the facts and when Lavi aligned them up in that order, he realized that was just how it was. He liked Allen deeper than a friend, but wouldn't admit it to himself. That was why he always got so uncomfortable when Allen did affectionate things to him. He had been in complete denial. Maybe Lavi wasn't a full blown gay guy, maybe not even bi. It was just… Allen. Allen was beautiful to him. He never wanted to see Allen cry or get hurt, get bruised or beaten. He wanted to protect Allen with all his heart, and if that was the case… maybe… maybe he loved Allen. LOVE loved. Like kissing love.

After his long inner turmoil Lavi finally responded. "I'd never force something like that on you… It'll always be up to you, Allen. If you want… I'll kiss you. If you don't want me to, I won't…"

He felt that familiar face press into his back again. A gloved hand grabbed a hand full of Lavi's bed shirt and gripped tightly. "Lavi… What's it like…" The quiet atmosphere seemed to boom Allen's voice to a point of near yelling for the red head, "What's it like to kiss nice?"

"Nice?" Lavi questioned. "Is there a mean kiss?"

"Like when a person… kisses you and you don't want it… But I've never felt a… nice kiss…"

"Has anyone ever mean kissed you?" Lavi felt his voice growing steady. He was over that identity crisis now, making it so he could comprehend Allen's words. Had someone kissed Allen against his will? His blood ran cold… Was his theory on prison rape really…?

He felt the head nod against his back. The gripping fingers shaking a bit from grabbing so hard. "I don't like it… Mean kissing… But I've never felt a…" The voice cut off. Lavi stared at his wall, despite him being unable to see it right in front of him. He felt his heart ramming in his chest, like it was trying to break free from the ribbed cage it was imprisoned in. Someone had kissed Allen against his will… Maybe more, but he couldn't be sure. That in itself angered the fiery haired teen. He turned over so that he was facing Allen. They couldn't see each other very well, but he was still able to make out the basic shape of Allen's face. The soft, round casing to the younger boy's head, holding within it two big round eyes of abused silver. He traced a hand down Allen's cheek, running over the slightly bumpy scar that held reign over the left side of the white haired inmate's face. It didn't matter if he couldn't see him. Allen was still beautiful. He felt beautiful. Smelled beautiful. Lavi pressed his nose to Allen's head and inhaled deeply. The scent of his friend overpowered the smell of prison soap, marking Allen's state of being in this concrete castle. Maybe… he really did love Allen… He had never felt like this towards any girlfriend he'd ever had (and he'd had a lot of them). Being this close to Allen didn't seem like a burden anymore, but more like a privilege. No one else got to be this close to Allen of the boy's choosing. Even Lenalee, who hugged and tickled him without mercy, didn't have the kind of consent Lavi got from him.

He sensed Allen moving even closer to him, the two sharing oxygen from a rather small vicinity now. Lavi felt Allen's pulse moving just as quickly as his was. Neither made any more moves from there for a while, just enjoying the blanket of darkness that provided them with warm security. Lavi felt a million questions flit through that document carrier he called a brain. What happened after this? Would they still be friends? Would they be lovers? Would nothing change? Would Allen open up more after this? Would he close himself off? All these thoughts were cut short by Allen's whispering voice.

"Lavi… would you show me…?"

Lavi close the final barrier of air between them. Lip to lip he and Allen lay in silence, even their breathing slowing to a near stopping point. It was as if electricity was flowing from one to the other, Lavi's lips tingling from the contact of touching Allen's. The younger boy's hands found their way to the older's chest, but weren't clenched like before. Lavi's own hand held carefully onto the side of Allen's face, afraid if he put too much pressure that his friend would break and he'd only be left with a million Allen pieces to clear out of his bed. It wasn't a rough or relatively deep kiss. It was just enough to remind the two that the passion was there and they weren't alone in the blackness swimming around them.

After some time Lavi backed away, though not by much. His and Allen's noses were still touching, keeping the incredibly personal moment intact. It was weird… Lavi had kissed so many girls in his life (even a few guys at truth or dare games), but none of them were as good as this one. It wasn't a tongue kiss or anything. Simply the fact that he was sharing it with Allen made the kiss special to him. He felt Allen's face snuggle in the nook of his neck and shoulder, hearing that slow breathing washing against his ear.

"Lavi… I like kissing nice with you…"

"I like kissing nice with you too Allen."

TO BE CONTINUED…

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**SO MUCH FLUFF! ARRRGHHHH! Not even sure how to handle this much… **

**In other news… PLOT MOVING ALONG! :D**

** You've been reading this for the Laven I am sure, now here it is :3**

** If you want more, a review or two would be nice 3 **


	7. To Know

**Took me a bit longer to update this one… **

**But hopefully I didn't keep you guys waiting too long : )**

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Lavi awoke earlier than usual that day. On most occasions, Link would come rattle the bar and wake him up, but this time he was able to do it himself. He wasn't ready to sit up just quite yet, so he instead decided on looking around the cell. He immediately noticed a lack of Allen next to him on the bed. The red head turned over, still bleary eyed, and to his delight found the target he was looking for. He was about to call out and surprise his younger friend, before he noticed the action of which Allen was taking part in. The boy was dressing himself. Normally one would not see anything of it, but for Lavi who had been curious about Allen's arm, this moment was extremely crucial. He searched out the secretive left arm, and his gaze stopped and lingered there. He understood now why Allen may have wanted to keep it hidden from everyone else… The arm was a deep red color, from just off the base of the shoulder, down to the very finger tips. It was demonic and mutilated looking, tipped off with gnarly, black fingernails. It resembled something people would usually associate with a burn victim. A really unfortunate burn victim. Lavi looked up and down the arm several times, making sure to take in all the details of it for later speculation. There was no way his photographic memory would forget something like that, and with this information stored securely in his Thought Files, the one eyed Juvie was positive he'd be able to stop pestering Allen about wanting to know what lay beyond that left sleeve.

Allen turned around, still unaware he was being watched by a single, luminous green gem peeking behind fiery red tresses. That gem traveled up and down Allen's torso of it's own free will, stopping around the boy's color bone. Lavi shifted slightly, trying to get a better look at what he thought he was seeing. He suddenly jumped up and grabbed Allen by the shoulder, earning a surprised yelp from the younger.

"LAVI! WHAT ARE YOU-"

Allen, what is this?"

Lavi ran his hands around where he had been looking, brushing against deep, round bruises. He had seen these kind of bruises lots of times beforehand. Hell he had even acquired quite a few himself, but these were different. They were darker than any he'd seen before, harsher in nature.

"Allen… Where you get these?" The previous conversation of last night came to mind. Allen had said that he'd been kissed without his consent before… but these were fairly recent. "Where'd you get hickies like this?"

"H-hickie…?" Allen was still shaken up from the assault that had just been played on him. Rather quickly though, he realized what was happening and tried to cover his left arm. "Lavi, don't-"

"Allen, I'm not worried about that right now." The older took the mangled arm from his younger companion and rubbed it reassuringly. "I don't care about this. I want to know about those bruises." He pointed again to the numerous dark spots blotting Allen's pure, pale complexion.

Allen stopped shaking a bit and looked into Lavi's single eye with an expression of disbelief. "My arm… You aren't disgusted..?"

"Allen, if this is a part of you, then there can't be anything disgusting about it." He smiled warmly, unable to believe how easily he was able to say things like this now. "Those bruises. That's what I'm worried about."

The white haired youth moved his gaze down to the floor, fixating it with a dust ball carelessly drifting by. "I can't say… Or I'll-"

"Never get out…" Lavi finished with a whisper. There was only one person who could be responsible for this sort of thing. "Tyki…"

"Lavi, please…" Allen grabbed onto the older's shirt with both hands, pleading with everything he had. "Don't say anything… Not to Link, or Supervisor… Especially not Supervisor…"

"Why not?" Lavi gritted his teeth in anger. Allen was getting abused by some pervert, and he wasn't supposed to do anything? "Why not the Supervisor?"

"He'll just feel bad…" Allen buried his face into Lavi's chest, the tiny shoulders beginning to heave weakly. "There's nothing he can do… There's nothing anyone can do!" Now the tears were coming. "This is my problem, I have to deal with it alone!"

Lavi pushed his friend (were they still just friends?) away from him and held him so that he could stare intently into Allen's eyes. "It's not just your problem anymore, Al. I decided to care about you, this is my responsibility too now." He cupped Allen's cheek with his hand gently, always afraid he might break the young lad. "I'm not allowed to let anything happen to you, alright?"

Allen's face slowly disintegrated into a mess of tears and sobbing. He threw his head back into Lavi's chest and wrapped both arms tightly around the older male with desperate need. The red head copied the action with his own arms, securing Allen in a tight hug, wanting to protect him from all the evils the world wanted to throw at the boy. At the moment it wasn't occurring to him that Allen was shirtless and anyone who could look in would see what they were doing. That didn't matter right now. Right now, at this very instance, all he could do was hold onto Allen as tightly as possible, and try to fight off the violent weeping heaves the younger was directing into Lavi's body.

"Lavi… Don't go…"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Please don't ever go…"

"Allen…"

It was amazing how one kiss had broken all the barriers holding the two back from each other. Touching Allen like this, gripping him tightly like a girl to a puppy… It just seemed natural now. He would do anything to keep Allen happy. The weird kid who just a month and a half ago had called out to him, was now the most important centerpiece in a system Lavi called his life. Like the cherished heirloom a proud family descendant might keep as a memorial to those before him. He had known before that Allen was special to him, but now, seeing the younger boy in this state… It sparked that noble protectiveness which had previously been lying deep in wait, looking for a way out.

It was a good ten minutes before Allen's tears had dried up and continued with putting the rest of his jump suit on. It bothered the red head just how much time Allen had spent crying this time. Normally, the crying spells, if there at all, were short and then Allen would curl into a ball and not talk to anyone. The younger had claimed that he didn't really like crying for himself, unless there was something to cry about. Certainly this was something to cry about, for sure, but how long it had taken him to get over this particular outburst set a seed of worry in the pit of Lavi's stomach. Tyki's forced affection on Allen was causing a tormented life for him. Lavi wasn't sure what rank Tyki held in this prison, but if it was powerful enough to keep Allen in this place, then he was most certainly a force to be reckoned with.

After that, the two males assumed separate activities. Lavi went on to do his homework, Allen playing with Tim, just like yesterday. But this time it was so that Allen was right next to the older, always making sure some kind of contact remained between them. It still weirded out Lavi just how quickly things had turned around. Yesterday the thought of being this close to Allen was a hindrance, not wanting to give the boy the wrong idea about their relationship. Now, that he had admitted to himself that Allen was more than just some friend, the closeness was rather welcomed, the red head wanting to keep his single eye trained on the boy, never leaving his sight. He wasn't sure if they were romantically involved… Just more touchy and the air around them less strained. They had only kissed once, so that didn't really make them anything… Lavi had kissed plenty of girls without feeling anything for them. Kissing wasn't some kind of set in stone marriage deal or anything, it was just physical contacts of certain face parts. Lavi could think of another instance where physical contact was made without feeling and blushed the thought away.

It had never occurred to him, sleeping with Allen… Not once. Well neither had kissing, but he saw how that had gone. He snuck a glance over at his companion before resuming his homework. Allen wasn't bad looking, not even close. He was a bit more femi than other boys Lavi had seen at Allen's age, but that only added to the beauty of him. Nonetheless, Allen was a man. A shorter, cuter, higher pitched man, but man all the same. He still had all the man parts that men had, and Lavi gulped nervously. He liked Allen for Allen, that was the decision he had made last night. But since Allen was Allen, he was another guy. The red head wasn't sure how well he would fare it things came down to him and Allen… getting physical. He shook his head abruptly. They weren't even dating, what the hell was he thinking? Seeing how Allen was being abused anyway (to an extent of which Lavi was still unaware of), such actions probably were the farthest thing from the younger boy's mind. At least that was what Lavi was hoping… Hugging Allen and kissing him were fine. Then he could treat Allen like his girlfriend and not worry about the parts matching up. But if it ever came to them… doing it… He needed a great deal of mental training beforehand.

"Link's not here yet…" Allen whispered.

"Huh?" Lavi looked up and around the room, noticing the clock each cell had installed in it showing the time to be 7:14. Link usually came around 6:30 or so. The prompt guard was late, causing a slight ruffle of feathers between both red head and snow cap.

"Hey, You two." They both looked up upon hearing Kanda's unpleasant snarl from across the hall. Both males moved off the bed and to the bars.

"What do you want, Yuu?"

"First off, how the fuck did you get my first name?" Their Asian associate was glaring knives through his cell barrier.

"I asked Link for it." Lavi retorted.

"Don't use it."

"Don't worry, I will."

"Dick."

"Samurai Poser."

"Ginger."

"Wanker." Allen dropped his own curse without hesitation. The two older men stared at their comrade before continuing on with whatever subject the basket case opposite them had started.

"Anyway, either of you know where the blond bastard is?"

Lavi shook his head. "No, we were just wondering the same thing."

"I thought maybe you guys might know."

"Why's that."

"Cuz you're all cozy with the staff here."

"We just behave, not cozy. Maybe if you stopped trying to kill everyone you met they'd treat you the same. Try it sometime." The red head leaned against his own bars casually, watching Kanda simmer pathetically.

"Maybe if they'd all stop being assholes, I'd do that."

"Maybe they'd stop being that way if you patched up your language."

"I hate you."

"Hate's a strong word, buddy."

They would have continued, except for the fact that a pair of heavy boots everyone associated with Link started tromping down the hall towards them. He had on his permanent frown, but today it was especially grim. Lavi and Allen watched with intense interest as the prison guard stood as centered in the hallway as he could, and made his voice louder without it looking like he was yelling.

"Today, you all have the day off, according to the Supervisor. You will go about your normal day, same recreational periods, and same in-cell periods. You can all thank the Supervisor later." He huffed a breath of what appeared to be exhaustion, not built for projecting that thin voice of his. He then turned to Lavi and Allen's cell, never once changing that wonderfully pleasant expression. "Walker, Bookman Junior."

"What up Two-spot?"

"Stop it. The Supervisor wants to see you two personally in his office."

"Why?" Allen leaned against the bars, trying to push his head through them, but to no avail.

"He didn't tell me. Now let's go, I don't want to keep him waiting."

The stiff man let the two delinquents out and lead them to Komuii's office a few hallways down. Once to the door, he knocked twice and pivoted on his heel, walking away without another word. Lavi and Allen looked at each other before hearing Komuii's voice from within giving a loud "Come in!"

The odd duo stepped inside, taking in the messy office with the same indifferent mentality as before. The Supervisor was sitting behind his desk, rummaging through some sort of files, and Lenalee was sitting comfortably on the sofa, beckoning Allen to come sit down. The youngest in the room took up the opportunity, rarely getting chances like this in a prison where the beds were like something out of "All Quiet on the Western Front". Upon taking his seat, Allen was instantly swarmed by the girl, asking him how his day was, how he was feeling, if Allen had eaten properly since they last met. The amount of attention she forced on him instinctively caused Lavi to clench his fist. Maybe they weren't dating or romantically involved… but Allen was his. He decided. He liked Allen and he wouldn't let some girl (even if she was cute) cut into his relationship with the white haired youth. His jealously was cut into by Komuii though, before it escalated to a voiced opinion.

"How goes everything, Lavi?"

No longer distracted, the red head shook his noggin lightly. "Same as usual. But the help you've given us has definitely improved things, thanks Komuii."

"How's Allen?"

The two took a moment to look over at their young friend who was currently getting his cheeks pulled by a very loving Lenalee.

Lavi repressed a growl. "He's alright." For a minute he was wondering if he should tell the Supervisor about what he had found out this morning, the dilemma dealing with Allen being assaulted by Tyki. Then he remembered just how much Allen didn't want Komuii (specifically Komuii) to know, so he kept shut. He would have to solve this problem on his own time.

"You seem off today.." The older gentleman crossed his fingers to make a neat bridge under his chin, directing a worried look at Lavi.

"Things have just been…" Lavi searched for an appropriate word. "complicated."

"Like how?"

"I can't really say."

"Does this have anything to do with why Allen's been upset lately?" Komuii's hands now separated to brace the large desk in anticipation.

"Even if it does, I can't say anything." The one eyed Juvie rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, not sure how much to give away.

"Why not?"

"I was told not to."

"You sound like Allen…"

"There may be good reason for that…." Lavi gazed at his superior meaningfully, hoping the man would get the message. Whether or not he had, Komuii decided to drop the subject and, instead, took a sip of coffee and loosened up.

"Geez, you two are so alike now…" He poked a few stray papers lying around his desk. "Say, I know I told you I'd take you on that picnic next week, but how about today?"

"Huh?"

"I get off in an hour, and tomorrow I'm taking leave so I can help Lenalee prepare for the new school year. I know you already have all your work, but not everyone is as gifted as you are." He winked playfully. "So you wanna go today?"

Lavi stood dumbstruck for about thirty seconds before chuckling and replying with a "Sure, ok. Sounds good."

"OK, you two stay in here with Lenalee while I finish up." He walked out from behind his desk and headed for the exit, giving a last death threat to the red head before leaving. "You do anything to my dear, sweet, innocent little Lenalee… I'll gut you. Got that, Eye Patch?"

The accused teen held up both hands defensively. "Got it, got it…"

After the door closed behind the Supervisor, Lavi made his way over to the couch situating Lenalee and Allen. He was immediately hugged tightly around the neck by an over harassed Allen who was done with this pestering girl's games.

"Lavi, my cheeks… They won't be cheeks anymore if she keeps grabbing them…." The boy looked into Lavi's eye with the utmost sincerity. "My cheeks will become dead! Like opossums!"

"Opossums can be living creatures, Allen…" Lavi retorted skeptically.

"Have you ever seen a living one?" Allen struck a fiercely serious face.

"No…"

"Then they are always dead. My words are correct."

The red head laughed, trying to stifle it with the hand that hadn't been tangled up in Allen's hug. The young snow cap thought all opossums were dead… and the proof he had used… Oh God it was just so cute! On the contrary, Allen was not so amused and poked his older friend's forehead.

"You should not be laughing! What if you being a dead opossum?"

Lavi burst out, tears in his eyes. He was glad that Allen released the tight grip around him, so that he may clutch his stomach and laugh the hardest he had in a while. Lenalee sat to the other side, simply giggling at the show being put on by these two strange boys. Allen still wasn't laughing, and gave up trying to go through with his "every opossum is a dead opossum" theory. It seemed that older kids were never to understand the logic that all opossums had died out years ago, and now humanity was left only with their ugly corpses (at least that was how Lavi was imagining it, which made it all the funnier).

After their mini-struggle for recovering air from a surprise laugh attack, the three sat in a circle and decided to talk. It wasn't very fruitful though; Lenalee would only ask Allen things, Allen would only ask Lavi things, and Lavi tried his best to switch between both, but would get odd looks from Allen when asking Lenalee. The gregarious atmosphere they were trying to attempt was smothered by the jealousy seething from Lavi for Lenalee, and vice versa. Allen seemed quite content with leaving the girl out of it altogether, but as fate would have it, that was unacceptable. They all had to socialize with each other, even if that meant the red head and cute Chinese girl needed to stop brooding over Allen for a short period of time.

Finally they all just agreed to watch the TV hooked up in Komuii's office, Allen dazzled by the bright lights playing out, for he didn't get to look at TVs very often. They watched "Transformers" for a bit before having to turn it off, because Allen thought the robots were real and got scared. They tried "How I Met Your Mother", but Allen got bored and started smacking Lavi's knee, Just to get some of the attention he'd lost from the red head back on him. Finally they gave up on TV, Lavi noticing how upset Allen would get if the red head was looking at some pretty girl on the screen, or if he glanced at Lenalee. The white haired youth would have none of that, it seemed. Lenalee looked like she was pretty oblivious to the youngest room occupant's behavior, giggling and calling it "cute" whenever Allen would hold onto Lavi's arm and glare death beams at her.

"You two are pretty close, huh?"

"Yes." Allen stated bluntly.

"Well, we don't really know anyone else, so this is just kinda how things turned out." Lavi tried to cover up for his younger friend's point blank shoot out at Lenalee, not wanting Komuii to come back and take it out on either him or Allen if she got upset for not being included.

"You guys still going to be friends even outside of prison?"

"Yes." Allen again.

"I would hope so…" Lavi mumbled pathetically. He suddenly felt his face get grabbed between Allen's gloved and non-gloved hands, feeling his cheeks being squished so he was forced to make a fishy face.

"We are." Allen said with a determined tone. "You promised you wouldn't ever-"

"Yeah, no, I got it Allen!" Lavi attempted to squeeze through his pressed face without much success. It sounded more ridiculous and high pitched than he ever wanted to sound in his life. "Al… Let me go…"

Lenalee was laughing hysterically into her hand, not at all understanding the deeper concept Allen was shoving through the red head's skin, which he was roughly caressing. Finally Lavi was able to push his younger friend's form off, holding both arms in his hand, receiving a pouty look from Allen.

"Lavi, let me go."

"No can do, my face hurts cuz of you."

"Are you going to hurt my face?" Allen's eyes grew to an irrational size, making Lavi blush and drop both of Allen's limbs without hesitation.

"No…"

"You two are adorable!" Lenalee looked at them with what Lavi like to call 'The eyes of a fangirl'. The fact that two males were in her vicinity and acting like childish idiots was probably the most amusing form of entertainment for her. Then she took up a rather suspicious looking smirk and leaned in close to both of them. "Are you too dating?"

Allen opened his mouth, but the red head beat him to the response, "Well you know, we're close and all, but I wouldn't say THAT close…"

"But Lavi I lo-"

"WE LIKE EACH OTHER VERY MUCH, BUT JUST AS FRIENDS." It wasn't as if Lavi was wanting to keep his affection for Allen a secret forever, he just wasn't sure how deep it really went at the moment, since he had only admitted such feelings to himself last night. Thankfully Allen got the memo and nodded to Lenalee.

"So you guys really don't like each other beyond that?" Damn she was a pushy brat! If she went around telling the prison… Lavi was already constructing ways of obtaining duct tape and the like.

"I like cats."

Lavi face palmed. Allen's lacking capabilities in conversation were starting to cause a bit of ruckus… Even though that was the way the white haired teen tried to hide the facts, it just made it all the more obvious.

"Cats, huh?" She was still smiling…. STILL! What could he do to just make her stop bloody smiling? It felt like she was creeping into his head and extracting the precious information as they spoke? What if she could read minds?

The air was now thoroughly uncomfortable for the two boys. If this was Lenalee's way of treating guests, then she was one hell of a host. Her crazy, maniacal grin dropped down to a lowly, and much less scary, smile. "Heehee, I like cats too, Allen!"

She flung a rambunctious hug at the younger boy and squeezed him tightly, Lavi himself being able to hear whatever pops were in Allen's back cracking. The expression Allen had on was one of dull acceptance. The older could tell his companion was not enjoying one second of this, being that Allen didn't even like girls. He was starting to wonder if Lenalee was the reason why…

Thankfully Komuii returned then, so all mannerisms of Allen-abusing actions were halted. After being released from the Chinese girl's death grip, the boy slithered over to Lavi's arm and buried his face into it. Lavi just sighed and accepted it, not wanting to make it seem like he had a problem with it. He really didn't, it was just in the face of fellow company that he didn't want to be as touchy as Allen wanted for them to be.

"So you guys all ready to go?" The Supervisor held his arms wide, like he was about to embrace all three teenagers with a loving hug.

"Yes!" Allen shot up off the couch and away from Lavi, excited to see the outside world he had been prohibited from for who knows how long. The other two followed suit, but with a more cool and controlled exterior. Jumping around like a grade school kid was for Allens, and Allens only. Older kids would keep a more calm reaction to whatever life may throw their way.

And with Komuii locking the door and all four individuals heading off down the hallway, Lavi decided that maybe things were going to get better for him and Allen. All he had to do was stop Tyki. Then he would win. Unbeknownst to the red head at the time, but doing so would be no easy task.

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**Picnic tiiiiiiiime!**

**Haha, too much Lenalee… puu…**

**I'll try to update pretty soon here, so in the meantime a few reviews might be nice :D**


	8. Girls and Boys

**(phew) Damn this chappie took a while… Doesn't help that Mother Dearest like to watch TV while I am typing, making me get hopelessly distracted D:**

**If there are any problems in grammar you see, let me know please : )**

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Today was absolutely perfect for a picnic, in Lavi's opinion. The sun was high, the sky blue, birds chirping in the background, and Komuii's idea of a picnic just happened to take place in a quiet park surrounded by luscious evergreens. It was Heaven. The eccentric Chinese man had even given Lavi and Allen a change of clothes so that when people saw them, it wouldn't cause any alarm. The feeling of a soft, cotton T-shirt and loose jeans was almost too much to handle for even Lavi, let alone the younger snow cap who couldn't stop rubbing his face in the material for a good thirty minutes. It was even better that not many people were there that day, meaning the four could enjoy the park mostly all to themselves. A great amount of the trip was spent pushing Allen on a swing while he laughed so hard Lavi thought his head might explode. Everything the youngest did that day was based on a blissfully happy reaction with whatever he encountered. When Allen first stepped onto grass, he hopped around a bit, thinking it was flimsy teeth trying to eat him. When he saw a tree he couldn't fit his arms around, he thought he was in the land of the giant people. Whenever he saw a brightly colored flower, he thought they were candies and was most displeased with the reality.

Seeing Allen so happy made Lavi feel better. He had seen documentaries on people who had been assaulted and was afraid maybe Allen would always be permanently damaged. But it seemed he was still able to keep up a cheery attitude and enjoy all the simple things the park presented to him (maybe it had something to do with the fact Allen had not seen any of these things in so long). The two males kept as much distance as necessary though, not wanting the Lee siblings to get the idea that they were more than just good friends. Since the idea was still in the test grounds for Lavi, he didn't need anyone other than Allen knowing about these feelings. All they had done was kiss once… so as far as he was concerned everything was a maybe. He knew Allen was the most important person in his life, and he knew he kind of liked kissing him… But jumping to conclusions had lead to many a failed relationship, and he didn't want to bullshit Allen like that.

By lunch time, the white haired youth had eaten about three times as much as any of the rest could ever hope to devour, and instantly fell asleep on their picnic table. It caused Lenalee to giggle tremendously whilst her brother mourned the loss of two thirds of his fridge. Lavi would sneak a pet to his companion's soft head when no one else was looking, earning a cute mumble here and there. He wanted to shove his nose into those pleasant tresses, losing himself in the natural scent that Allen gave off. After lunch, Komuii gave the warning that they only had one more hour left, and for Lavi and Allen to go enjoy themselves while him and Lenalee cleaned up. Needless to say, waking up the boy wasn't as easy as Lavi had thought it would be… Allen awoke grumpy and tried to push his older friend away, wanting to go back to sleep. The red head was relentless though, wanting Allen to enjoy the last hour of freedom they would have before being shut in again for near eternity.

Finally Allen gave in and trudged along. He held onto Lavi's sleeve and wouldn't let go even when Lavi quietly asked him too. Of course, Lavi didn't push the matter too hard, not wanting to make Allen do anything he didn't want to. Finally they arrived at the swing set again, the older thinking maybe that was what Allen would wanted to do. Apparently he was wrong though, for he was immediately dragged past the swings and too a small trail leading into a woodsy area.

"Allen, we can't got too far from the Supervisor.."

"We're not going far." Allen drawled. They walked only a short distance into the thick forest surrounding the park before the short pushed Lavi against a tree roughly.

"Allen…?"

Lavi felt himself get gripped tightly around the middle with an Allen face snuggling deeply into his chest. Allen inhaled deeply, hugging Lavi like the red head might vanish any moment. He wasn't sure what to do at first, still trying to get used to the amount of contact he was being given right now. His arms moved of their own accord and wrapped securely around Allen's thin waist.

"Lavi… I'm so happy."

"Good."

"Thank you for being here with me…"

"Don't mention it." Lavi felt his face heat up and tried to suppress the blush he seemed to get whenever too close to Allen. After they held each other back for a moment, he spotted the same exact blush painting his younger companion's cheeks and ears, making him not feel so embarrassed about it. The two shared a light chuckle about the state the other's face was in. Lavi brushed a hand down Allen's heated cheek while Allen rubbed a hand against Lavi's chest. They stood there, reveling in the other's presence for what seemed to be forever. It was totally comfortable at this point, Lavi not having to worry about anyone walking in and seeing them together like this. He kept in mind though that they weren't really anything other than incredibly close friends…. Until Allen gave Lavi the OK, they would only remain good friends. Nothing more. He knew that Allen was already struggling with Tyki mentally and physically scarring him, he didn't want to add to that trouble.

Allen got closer still, and Lavi held his breath. He was willing his body to not react the way it normally would when touching someone he was interested in like this. He spent so much effort in the action that Allen picked up on it, like always.

"Lavi, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Allen…"

"you're not breathing….."

"Don't worry about it…" Lavi was only letting in tiny sips of air in and out, making his voice wheezy.

"Lavi… Can we…?" Allen's blush deepened further and he lightly touched the taller one's throat.

Lavi swallowed hard. Was Allen asking for a kiss again? Oh no…. He wanted to. He REALLY wanted to. But the problem was, he was already trying to fight off the blood flowing to his lower regions, kissing Allen would release that flow and he'd be stuck in that condition until he ran a cold shower (of which he didn't want to march into the shower room with a hard on). He looked down to Allen, receiving a pleading pout. Shit. He couldn't look away… "Allen…?"

"Can we kiss nice…?"

He dug his nails into the tree bracing him. His need was pushing it's way through his mind, he wanted to do this… He wanted to… Damn…

He decided to put up with the walking trouble he'd have later on and dove in. He put both hands around Allen's head and gently pressed their mouths together. He didn't make any movements other than that, despite how badly his brain was screaming at him to take Allen's lips and do with them what he pleased. They stood stock still, taking in the other with everything they could discover merely with this innocent touch. After a bit they separated and Allen gave Lavi a sour look.

"It this it?"

Lavi laughed, leaning into Allen's shoulder to keep himself upright. "I was afraid I might go too far.. so I panicked and stopped moving."

Allen puffed his cheeks and tapped his older friend's cheek with his hand palm. "Don't get scared Lavi."

"I'm not scared for myself, Allen…" He made it so their noses were tip to tip, one sharing the breath with the other. "I don't want to trigger anything…"

"Trigger?"

"Like bring up bad memories…"

Allen looked down to his shoes with a morose expression. "You're never a bad memory…" He snuggled between the red head's shoulder and neck. "Tyki is bad, that's what makes him Tyki. Lavi is wonderful, that's what makes him Lavi." He took a deep breath, Lavi able to feel it on his ear. "And I love Lavi."

He stiffened up at that. He felt that need rising to take over Allen and maliciously smell, taste, feel, touch, kiss, and pretty much ravage the younger boy. He continued to hold back though, still not believing that Allen was totally fine with this. "I love you Allen." His words breathy and heated. He was trying his best not to grind into him.

They closed that gaping distance once more, this time moving sensually against one another. Lavi gripped that feminine waist tightly, not to brace Allen, but to keep himself distanced so he didn't accidentally make a sudden ramming motion into him. Both mouths gaped partially open, leaving just enough space to share some saliva and inner lip. Allen moaned lightly into Lavi, the older holding back a possessive growl. The red head's hands were everywhere, moving from Allen's face, to his neck, back down to the waist and up once more, unlike the younger who kept his hands gracefully placed upon Lavi's abs or upper torso. If either one had their eyes opened, they would see the sweat beads starting to form on their foreheads. They kept up that particular pattern until Lavi decided to take it up a notch, sliding a wet tongue over Allen's swelling bottom lip. He kept a conscious mind about how the snow cap might react, being ready to back off if Allen needed his space. To his delight, the younger took the invitation graciously and the two enticed males were sharing tongues in a battle for sheer dominance. Lavi's tongue was bigger and more experienced than Allen's, which was small and weak to the larger adversary's movements. The muscles danced to the music of mewls and groans being passed beyond them and down the other's throat. The moment was heated and it was only getting more so by the second. Lavi had never kissed anyone like this before. The physical aspect, maybe… But this was more. It was passion and trust, love and devotion all being accumulated in each one's mouth and passed on to the other. He felt a small hand work it's way down to his lower regions, and brush against the fabric clothing his sensitive organ lightly. He let out a surprised gasp and jerked Allen away from him.

"Allen…"

"Lavi…? What's-"

"Don't do that."

"What are you?"

"Where you put your hand… Don't do that."

Allen gave him a worried expression, eyes pouring out genuine confusion. Suddenly Lavi saw it. Allen had no idea that his hand was there. He was probably trying to copy the more veteran kisser's movements, and just slipped up (or down in this instance).

"Lavi? I don't understand…"

"Just… if we do this again… keep your hands up above my waist, ok?"

"Why?"

"Just because."

"Why?"

"Allen." Lavi pinched the bridge of his nose, grabbing his near pounding skull with the free hand. "When you do that… I get.. Well.."

"Get what?"

"Excited…"

"Isn't that good?"

He sighed heavily. "Not good, Al."

"Why not?"

"It makes me want…" He paused, not believing that he had to explain this to a kid older than eleven. "To do things with you…"

"This is bad?" Allen was just not getting it. The white haired youth cocked his head and pressed Lavi to explain further.

"Y-you know… like… physical things…" No reaction. "Sex, Allen."

"OH!" Allen let go of his older friend and took a few steps back, rubbing his arm and staring at anything but Lavi. "That's why you…"

"Yeah." He leaned against the tree, fighting the severe discomfort he was suffering in his lower area right about now. "That's why I had to stop. Neither of us will be ready for something like that for a while."

"If you really need to-"

"No."

"I just… I don't want you to be in… I want you to be…"

"Allen, no." Lavi looked Allen straight in the eye, his face stern and unwavering. "Whatever the details are of what you're going through right now… I know you're not prepared for us to do something like that. And besides, we've only really been, well… Dating, I guess… for about a day. Actions like that should wait until, first and foremost you are emotionally ready, secondly, it's not even legal for me to be with you."

"What? Why?" Allen threw a betrayed hiss at his compassionate red head, not understanding the laws keeping them apart.

"I'm eighteen Allen. Without your parents consent, I shouldn't even be touching you." He smoothed out his hair and kept his one eye on Allen intensely. "I shouldn't have played you into this…"

"But you weren't playing!" The younger threw himself on Lavi, searching the taller one's face for a sign that maybe he was just joking. "You said you loved me, right? Why can't we just-"

"I do love you, Allen!" Lavi cut in, hearing Allen's voice pitch up to an almost crying state. No… He would not be the reason Allen would cry. Never. He was supposed to protect Allen… Damn it! Why couldn't he do anything right when it came to this kid? "I love you, and we both understand that…but your parents-"

"I have no parents, Lavi!" Allen pounded a clenched fist into Lavi's shoulder, making the older one wince audibly. "Oh no… Lavi I'm sorry…!"

"Don't worry about it." The eye patched delinquent rubbed the bruising spot gingerly. "I knew that… I just forgot… I'm sorry Allen."

Allen seemed calmed for a minute before picking up on what his older friend had said. "H-how did you know that…?"

"Komuii told me…"

Out of nowhere, Allen grabbed his elder by the collar and jammed him against the tree that had, only minutes ago, been the grounds for their little make out session. "WHAT ELSE?"

"Whoa! Allen! Calm dow-"

"WHAT ELSE DID HE TELL YOU?"

Lavi was held, facing eyes filled with lonely desperation reflecting his own shocked appearance. "Nothing… He didn't go on from there… He said when you were ready, you'd tell me…"

He slipped from Allen's grasped, and watched as the boy slid down to his knees so he was kneeling on the ground. The youth was hugging himself tightly, housing a face Lavi was unable to read. He got down to the same level, not wanting there to be any bridges built between him and his precious company.

"You don't have to worry, Allen." He brushed some hair out of the younger's eyes. "I'll always wait for you. We have a long while to get to know each other, what's the fun if we give up all we have at once?"

Allen shook his head despairingly. "It's ok if you played me…" He held onto the still raised Lavi hand. "Because I've been playing you too… I'm not… who you think I am…"

"Impossible." Lavi smiled warm heartedly.

"No Lavi… I've done things…" The snow cap's breath got shaky. "There's a reason they've had me locked up in there for so long… A good reason."

Allen hushed at the finger which shut his lips politely. He glanced up to see a fiery headed individual shaking his head like a chastising school teacher. "Allen, that happened a long time ago… You don't even remember how long."

Allen shrunk.

"People do a lot of changing over the years, and even in just this last month and a half, I've seen you prove yourself to be kind, and selfless, and conscious of others." He moved his hand up to ruffle Allen's hair. "If it weren't for you calling out to me my first day in there, I have no idea where I'd be right now…"

The younger leaped up and locked his arms around Lavi's neck. He nuzzled the one eyed teen's face affectionately and didn't let go for some time.

"I don't care what's legal." He whispered softly into Lavi's ear. "I want you to be with me. Always. Even if we can't be in love… I just want Lavi next to me and beside me… I just want someone to talk to…"

"I know, Allen." He rubbed his friend's back reassuringly, letting him know he was there. He'd always be there. Even if he got paroled and escaped from Juvie, he'd come back for Allen. He'd always come back for Allen. He'd find a way to help the young inmate escape from the unfortunate world life had thrown him into. "If it counts for anything, I do love you…"

"Thanks Lavi… Thank you so much… Thank you…" He was afraid Allen might start crying again, but was relieved when a meaningful hug was the most emotional it got in that fleeting instance. Finally Allen unwound his strangling limbs from about Lavi and leaned in for a final, lasting kiss before both got up and started heading back. They still had thirty minutes, but Allen was looking sleepy again, and Lavi would go where Allen wanted to go. Before leaving the trail completely behind them though, Lavi asked to stay behind for five minutes.

"Stay behind?"

"Just for a sec, Al. I promise."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing Allen… Just hurry back to the car where Lenalee and Komuii are at."

"Lavi…"

"Just do it, come one now." He gave an encouraging shove, grateful to the heavens that the younger didn't linger for any longer. As soon as Allen was a good distance, he ran back into the forest to take care of his "problem". Any longer going around in this state, he would have lost his mind. Once to a safe place, he undid his pants and quickly went to work.

Feeling refreshed and bit exhausted, Lavi trudged his way to the car where Komuii, Lenalee, and Allen were all lounging about, Allen already having fallen asleep again in the warm sun. Komuii glanced up upon the red head's return, packing up the rest of the picnic supplies.

"Where'd you two run off to?"

"Just for a walk." Lavi lied. Nobody else had any business to know of what he and Allen did while they were alone, and he preferred to keep it that way.

"Why were you late?" Komuii didn't sound suspicious or anything, but in case he might've been Lavi had already developed a story.

"While walking I stumbled into some thorny plant and it got caught inside my leg, so I was trying to remove it."

"Need me to take care of it?"

"No, no. It's really not that serious…" He waved his hands in dismissal, not wanting the Supervisor to look at his leg and find nothing there. "Just a scratch is all, doesn't even hurt."

"If you say so." He shrugged and went back to his own business. Lavi let out and inner sigh of relief, not wanting to have to explain to anyone why he had really stayed behind. It was frankly, embarrassing to say the least. He was just about to lie down next to Allen, when a certain girl with pigtails glomped him promptly.

"Heehee, so what did you and Allen really do?"

"We went for a walk…"

"What'd you do on that walk?"

"We walked."

"Nothing more?"

"A bit of conversation here and there…. Listen Lenalee, Me and Allen aren't, like, and item or anything…" The girl obviously knew something was up, because she wouldn't stop pushing it.

"You surrrrrrrrrre~?"

"Positive."

She pouted and crossed her arms (not nearly as cutely as Allen). "You're no fun, Lavi."

"I'm just honest…"

Since Allen was totally crashed, he was left having to spend the last ten minutes of his precious freedom keeping the ridiculous girl entertained. She kept asking him about dates and he'd answer as vaguely as possible, not wanting to come across as some sort of man whore. He really grinded for details though… It was starting to weird him out a bit.

"Lenalee.. Why are you so interested in my love life?" He gave her a dull frown, just wanting to get this over with.

She looked down at her exposed knees thoughtfully. Then she scooched closer to Lavi and blushed faintly. "Nii-san won't let me date anyone, so it's kind of like uncharted territory for me.. You and Allen really seem quite friendly, so I wanted to get a close up look of what love is really like…" Lavi was entirely aware of just how far Lenalee had shoved herself into his personal space bubble. The near touching hands were a good wake up call for him, shoving both appendages in his lap. He looked in the opposite direction of her. Avoiding eye contacts at all costs was the best thing he could think of right now, knowing if he jolted off he'd upset her and send Komuii chasing after him. It was incredibly awkward though, he could tell that she was asking these things out of more than simple curiosity. Seeing how Allen didn't like her anyhow, talking with her like this was probably a bad idea.

"Well you could always rebel and date some cute guy at your school or something…" Anything to get the attention off him would make it easier to converse with a hormone raging teenage girl.

"But Nii-san would find out and cause trouble…" She sighed and threw her head back in exasperation. "I wish he'd let me loose a little… I'm just like all the other girls. I just want to date someone, or get that incredible first kiss experience…" Lenalee drifted off again, staring at some kids chasing each other with tennis rackets. "You've done all these things and experienced girls and sex… I've done nothing."

"Well you should wait until you're ready…" Why was he here right now? Why couldn't he be asleep like Allen? He would much rather be dreaming than giving hopeless life advice to a young woman yearning for a man. How the hell was he supposed to tell her what to do? On most occasions (before meeting Allen of course) he would be sweet talking cute girls like Lenalee and trying to trick them into bed. Now he was expected to tell her not to fall for dumb guys like him who only wanted sex? Great. Where was Komuii, damn it?

"Lavi… You and Allen really aren't dating, right?"

This was going in the wrong direction…. "Uh… right.."

"So you aren't connected emotionally to anyone?"

"Um…" Lavi gulped. "Uh…"

"Could you kiss me?"

The older teen felt his breath snag in his throat and started up a violent coughing fit. "L-Lenalee.. I am sure there are plenty of other guys you could go after…"

"It's just a kiss. Haven't you kissed a ton of girls?" She gave him a look of blatant expectation.

"Well, yeah… But they had all kissed someone else before…" That was a lie. He had stolen bunches of first kisses.

"Lavi I just want to know what it's like…"

"Nooooooooooo."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No no no."

Now he was getting an angry glare. Why was he here again? He didn't like her like that. Maybe if he had never met Allen he would have taken that advantage, maybe even going a little further… But he told Allen he'd never leave. And though cheating wasn't leaving, it was still disloyal to Allen. "Lavi just kiss me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Personal reasons."

"Why can't you do it? I'm just some girl, right?" She stood up and slid a hand across his throat. He shivered and jumped off the bench they were sitting on to step away. "I don't want to be treated special or anything… I just want a kiss. Is it really that hard?"

"Lenalee stop it."

"What's your deal?"

"Right now? The fact that you're trying to kiss me against my will."

"What am I not good enough?" Now she seemed mad. He arms were crossed over her breasts and her foot was tapping irritably. Lavi was still trying to keep a good distance between them.

"No, you're plenty cute-"

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing… I just-"

"Then just do it."

She grabbed him around the neck and dove towards his face, the red head narrowly missing plump female lips. "Lenalee! Cut it out!"

"Hold still!" They were struggling against each other, Lenalee fighting to get Lavi's lips, Lavi fighting to get away from them. His feet got tangled in a patch of tall grass and he fell backwards onto the bench with Lenalee leaning on his lap. "Got you now." She whispered huskily."

"No! Stop! Get off!" He shook his head viciously, wanting to avoid having to make lip contact with this girl at all costs. "Lenalee! KNOCK IT OFF!"

"GET OFF LAVI!"

The struggling pair turned heads to see an angry Allen looming over them.

"Allen, what are you-"

"Don't say anything, Lenalee!" The youngest group member grabbed Lavi's arm and pulled him from under the Chinese girl deliberately. He tromped with his taller companion a few steps away before turning back to Lenalee. "When someone asks you not to do something, don't do it! Lavi doesn't like you like that!"

She gazed at Allen dumbstruck, not sure how to respond to a raging Allen. "Allen… I wasn't trying to.."

"Just leave Lavi alone…" Allen mumbled while gripping the red head's sleeve tightly. "Unless Lavi is OK with it… Then I'll step aside…"

"Allen, you know I wouldn't do that." Lavi tried to cover up for the disaster that had just ensued.

"I know." Allen whispered. "Hey will you forgive me?"

"For what?"

"For this." The younger let go of Lavi's sleeve and walked up to the stunned Lenalee purposefully. He struck a bold pose and looked her in the eye. "Lavi doesn't want anyone to know this, but Lavi's good looking so I have to come forward." He inhaled. "Me and Lavi are in love. I'm the only one allowed to kiss him unless he decides otherwise. Please don't force yourself on him, cuz I'll get really jealous…"

Lavi was blushing right down to his toes, Lenalee was letting this new information settle in. She shook her head a bit (probably trying to clear it) and responded calmly. "I only did it because you guys said nothing was going on… That's why I was asking… I didn't want to get in the way."

Lavi rubbed his temples, having trouble with the fact that other people outside of him and Allen now knew of their barely started relationship. Though it was true that Lenalee had no way of knowing about it since they were trying to cover up, the scale on which he had been attacked for just a simple kiss was a bit frightening. From here he didn't know what to say or how to react. He decided to let Allen do all the talking, since Allen wasn't nervous like he was.

"Allen, you know I'd never try to hurt you, if I had just known.." She was standing now, doing her best to convey a worthy apology for trying to force kiss someone else's guy.

"Even if we weren't together…" The snow cap's voice got quiet and serious, "You can't ever mean kiss someone… It hurts more than getting punched in the tummy…" He stared at the ground and gripped the fabric over his belly, like there was a bad feeling there. "A lot worse…"

"Allen…?"

"Come on Allen, why don't you go lie down for a bit longer… I'll sit next to you, OK?" Lavi knew what Allen was referring to, and he'd do anything to help get his younger friend's mind off such matters. Allen nodded slowly and went to sit in a soft patch of grass, still keeping a hand on his stomach and shoving his face into his curled up knees.

"What's wrong with him?" Lenalee looked over at the boy worriedly. "Is it really all just from me-?"

"No… It's not all you." Lavi muttered. "Allen was just worried about me."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't say it to me." Lavi glanced over to Allen meaningfully. "I wouldn't have cared too much otherwise, but the fact is… I'm with Allen now. Officially I guess…" He leaned against the bench heavily, shoving both thumbs into his pockets. "Wow that's a lot easier to say after it's out in the open like this…" He heaved himself up and walked over to Allen, rubbing thin shoulders steadily.

"Lavi are you ok?" Allen mumbled passed his knees.

"Yeah I'm fine. Nothing really happened, you saved me just in time." He flashed a wide grin, despite how it would go completely unseen.

Lenalee gave a last look at the two before huffing and heading back to her brother's car. Things would smooth over eventually, but for now they were prickly and negative.

Lavi pet his companion's head gently, trying to rub some sort of comfort with the contact. "Are you going to be ok, Al?"

The boy raised his head and directed his dull gaze at the older. "Are you ok?"

Lavi chuckled softly. "It's not the first time a girl's thrown herself at me."

"But she tried to mean kiss you…"

"It's fine Al. Nothing happened." He hugged his younger counterpart to his chest, letting his words sink in. "It's you I'm worried about…."

Allen shook his head. "I just want you to be OK. And if you're fine, then I am too." He straightened his legs out and stretched leisurely. Afterwards he rested his head on Lavi's shoulder, humming in contentment. "I can forgive her since she apologized."

"Haha, good. I wouldn't want something I cause to ruin the friendship between you two."

"I'm not friends with her."

"Harsh."

"But I'll try to be nicer…" Allen rubbed his head against the comfortable shoulder. "Try."

"A little effort never hurt, Al."

They got up after Komuii and Lenalee returned to their side, the older sibling beckoning for them to come inside the car. Lenalee was sending apologetic glances to Allen, the white haired youth, smiling back acceptingly. Before long the two were in the back seat, Allen fighting off those horrific lady hugs he detested so much. It was like almost nothing had happened, Lavi being able to lean back in his seat without too much worry. It was nice to know things would be ok, awkward for a bit, but still ok.

Even though there was one more person now aware of their secret romance, the eye patched delinquent was able to find security in the fact that it probably wouldn't get spread around the prison. Lenalee visited the Juvie center, yes. But she was completely removed from daily inmate life. Hopefully nothing more would come from the earlier incident, and everyone would be able to move on without any hold up.

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**LENALEE RAPE. Haha, what? My attempt at causing trouble.**

**I actually quite like Lenalee when she has pigtails. Any other time though…. No good.**

**Allen Dramaaaaaaaaaa~**

**If you'd like the updates to continue at the pace in which I have set up, Reviews would be greatly appreciated :D**


	9. Therapist

**Mmmmmmm Plot Chapterrr~!**

**I acutally got this done the same day I uploaded chapter 8… but wanted to give you something to look forward to at least (or if I am unable to upload for a while)**

**Enjoy : )**

Two weeks went by without much trouble. They were given harder jobs again, thanks to Komuii's absence, but it really wasn't all that bad. The highlight was the fact that Tyki hadn't come to take Allen at all, not even being seen by either red head or snow cap. Their relationship didn't really amount to much either. It was pretty much the same as before, where Allen would cling to Lavi and Lavi would do some kind of homework or other cell-limited activity. They hadn't really kissed much since coming back from that day at the park, only getting chances if they went to the closet Allen had a key to, and would only do that if not too many people were close enough to have an eye on them. There was nothing like being followed by a bunch of thug-like kids and having them find out that two guys have been locking themselves up in a closet together. They couldn't go too far with their kisses either, or else Lavi would get too excited and have to walk around with a hard on for the remainder of the day. There was no privacy in this place, so the little stunt he pulled at the park would not fly. Probably the biggest change was that Allen would sneak into Lavi's bed every night while he was sleeping, or wake him up so the two could express their feelings in close contact covered by the thick blackness of prison nights. So there wasn't really a substantial support to their "Romance"; they were hardly by themselves, and even then there were people surrounding them on all sides. It was, by a long shot, the most difficulty Lavi had ever had in a relationship. But it was worth it to be near Allen like this. Lately his thoughts had been getting a bit smutty, but he never voiced or acted on the actions his mind and neglected nether regions wanted him to perform. He'd wait for Allen. Even if he died without ever getting any ever again, at least Allen would be happy (of course the thought of no sex for the rest of his life caused a few nervous sweat beads to form whenever he dwindled on the possibility for too long).

This day the innocuous duo decided to play another game of poker, not having it played it since the first time Allen had utterly defeated the older red head. Needless to say, Lavi was not looking forward to it. The only thing he had to offer up as a gambling material were his dirty magazines, and he was positive Allen wouldn't be interested.

"Allen, no cheating."

"I never cheat."

"Liar. You're a dirty cheater and you know it."

"What evidence do you have?" Lavi was hit with one of Allen's very rare smug looks, only being able to see it if they were playing this wretched card game. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"None… I just know you are."

"Prove it and I'll believe you."

The game went exactly as expected. Lavi lost every round, and with it, his magazines. Allen looked at the prize he had one and grimaced visibly, returning them back to Lavi.

"That's yucky."

"Not to most guys."

"Well I'm not most guys."

"What are you then?"

"Allen."

"Not who. What."

"I'm an Allen."

Lavi gave up and took them back, replacing them inside the box. He was pretty sure he wasn't even into them himself anymore… Pictures of women flaunting their bodies with little to no clothing was just not as appealing as a fully dressed Allen. He had only caught small glances here and there of Allen without his shirt on, and he knew he wanted more, but the younger was incredibly secretive about exposing himself. Even when they were on one of their rare kissing ventures, Allen wouldn't even lower the zipper to his jump suit passed neck level, stopping Lavi whenever he tried to undo it.

They played a few more rounds of poker before finally Lavi just rage quit, shouting a couple nasty comments about Allen cheating and throwing the cards in his hand at the boy who was laughing hysterically at his elder's antics. After that they loafed around, not sure what to do and both bored of being locked in the stuffy cell. Allen was stroking Tim's wings with delicate fingers, while Lavi sat on his bed and contemplated how to defeat Allen in a poker game. It was while lulling in these thoughts that they heard footsteps treading down the hallway.

They weren't heavy like Link's boots, in fact, they sounded like nice dress shoes… They made a light clacking sound with each step they took, Lavi remembering what usually associated with hearing those shoes.

"Allen…"

Allen was already on it, stuffing himself under the covers of the top bunk, trying to remain unseen. Just as the last strand of white hair slipped under the blanket, a very smug looking Tyki arrived at the bars, looking in.

"Boy~. Lavi put himself in an upright position, preparing himself for whatever he may have to do. "I know you in there, don't try to hide yourself."

The man unlocked the cell entrance and stepped in, holding an expression like he owned the place. Lavi stood up walked to the taller man, doing his best to keep from throttling him right then an there. "Allen's not feeling well, maybe you can come by some other time."

Golden eyes shifted to him, and his breathing hitched for a moment. This man was frightening. Beyond frightening. He gave off a menacing aura despite the sleek smile he was sporting. Lavi gulped. He would do whatever he had to do to keep Allen away from this man. His fists clenched, his teeth grinding together within the confines of his mouth. Now was the opportunity to make the words he had told Allen so many times a reality.

"It's just a conference, I'm sure Allen will be fine."

"He's really sick."

"We're just talking, Eye Patch."

Lavi shrugged off the commonplace nickname and straightened up. He couldn't show fear. "Doesn't matter what you're doing, Allen should be resting right now. Or do you want to disrupt him from getting better?"

"He looked fine yesterday."

"Yeah well he caught something over night."

"Then he's probably not that sick yet."

"I'm sure your conference can wait."

"Why are you stopping me from doing my job?" Tyki put his face closer to the red head's, making it so Lavi could smell the last traces of whatever cigarette the man had smoked. "Or more importantly," A finger tilted his head up, bringing him in direct contact of those unnaturally colored eyes, "Why are you protecting him?"

Lavi back away, not wanting to touch any part of this suited threat. "Who says I'm protecting anyone?" He voice shook slightly. Shit… he had to pull himself together!

"You don't think I see you two everyday?" Tyki crossed his arms and shot the younger male with a smoldering gaze. "Sitting next to each other so close your shoulders are touching? Letting him sleep on your shoulder? Not letting anyone else but that inane Asian into your exclusive little group?" Lavi felt his heart drop to his stomach. Was it really that easy to tell? He thought they had been careful… But apparently not. The Portuguese continued speaking. "Allen's not the sweet little boy you think you know. He's a hard core prisoner, like all the others here. I'm not sure why he decided to let you close to him, or should I say, why he sucked you in. But that boy is dangerous, no doubt."

The heated anger in Lavi's head was making it hard to see things clearly. He knew that Allen had done something bad. Allen had told him so. It never mattered to the red head before as to what his younger companion had done, because Allen was still Allen. He knew the boy better than anyone, in his opinion, without having to know every last detail. He knew Allen liked chocolate. He knew Allen liked sunny days. He knew Allen was lonely before he came along. He knew that Allen was a cheater when it came to poker. He knew that Allen was kind. He knew that Allen got jealous whenever Lavi was close to girls, or even just watching them on the TV. He knew Allen had a deformed arm. He knew Allen liked "nice kisses" and not "mean ones". He knew enough about Allen to know Allen. That was all that mattered to him. He wouldn't let some pedophile tell him otherwise.

"You hardly even spend time with him." Lavi muttered darkly. His voice had no more quivers, his shoulders were squared, and his head was held high. Lavi was just mad now. "You don't know Allen until you've sat down and talked to him about things he likes, or let him kiss you instead of forcing it on him, or held him when he cries…" The one eyed delinquent shook his head slowly. "You don't know Allen at all."

Tyki threw a secluded laugh into his hand, shoulders shaking with mirth. "Well I don't know about the first one, but the last two most certainly. Though me holding Allen while he's crying and you holding him are probably caused by two different scenarios." Lavi ground his teeth, seething in anger. He was able to read those words perfectly, depicting the meaning in a few short seconds. When he was the one holding a crying Allen, it was to comfort him and give the younger some piece of mind. When this daunting menace was holding a crying Allen…. It was because he was the one causing him to cry, and wouldn't let go. "And as for the kiss," Tyki continued, not seeming to care if Lavi was pissed, "Allen kissed me the first time. Probably just like how he kissed you. He has this way of leading you on to get what he wants, and ditching you once he gets it."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Allen had sprung from under the covers, a look of sheer hatred painting the usually blank features. "You lied to me… You said if I did it, that you'd let me go!" Now he was holding his head with both hands, yelling at the ground between the quarreling men. "But then you didn't and you kept asking me to do more things… And when I didn't want to.. you…" Allen trailed off and let out a strangled sob.

"Allen, just let me handle this, ok?" Lavi reassured.

"Because you're doing such a wonderful job already." Tyki drawled.

"SHUT UP!" Single green eye aflame, and both hands tightly wrenched into fists, Lavi was in no mood for anymore bullshit. Allen was only going to make matters worse as it were. Tyki reached up to the top bunk, being able to snatch Allen up at any second thanks to his height advantage. Lavi ran up and smacked the hand out of the way. "Leave him be!"

Tyki was giving the red head a cold stare, boring those blazing eyes into the red head's single one. Suddenly he grabbed Lavi by the throat and shoved him against the wall opposite Allen. Lavi grabbed the older man's hands by instinct, trying to loosen the grip cutting off his airways. He distantly heard Allen call his name in the background, but it was mostly drowned out by the sound of blood rushing from his head. "Listen here, brat." A puff of smoke billowed into his face, though he was unable to smell it due to the fact that he couldn't breath. "Who do you think you are? You and that kid are nothing more than prisoners. Rats locked in an elaborate cage." Tyki brought his face closer, Lavi letting out a gurgling sound. "I'm the therapist here, and you know what that means?"

Lavi would have responded if not for being unable to make any other noise than a strangled yelp. So that's how it was. Tyki was able to threaten Allen because he held one of the most significant roles in this entire building. As a therapist, if the suited pervert said Allen was crazy, then Allen was crazy and couldn't leave. All the pieces fit into place now… Allen was being forced to subject to Tyki's will because he had no other choice. The Portuguese had the ability to keep the white haired youth trapped in here forever if he so wished, just by telling the higher ups that Allen was mentally unstable. He held a power to be reckoned with, and Lavi was just a speck in this place. Even Supervisor Komuii wouldn't be able to go through the therapist's words if Tyki went directly to the higher ups. Komuii was just here to keep watch over the place. Tyki was the one who truly decided who left, and who stayed. By telling Allen he could escape by giving himself to the older man, he had caused a situation in his favor, being able to bend the youth to his will. Lavi nodded as best he could, starting to see stars dancing around his vision.

"So you know that against me, you have no defense." Tyki smirked. "You can tell whoever you want about what I do to Allen, but the fact of the matter is, your word means nothing." Lavi felt his eye starting to roll back in his head. Was this man going to kill him? He could feel his fingertips starting to go numb from gripping Tyki's wrists so hard. "You only have a six month sentence, but I could very easily turn that into a two year one if you were a threat to society according to me. So I suggest you keep out of my way."

Lavi hadn't seen it being done, but at some point Allen had climbed down from the bunk and started trying to pull Tyki off of him.

"Tyki, please… Please don't hurt Lavi anymore…" The boy's voice was haunted with desperation and slight hiccups. Tears were streaming down his face, large and rapidly increasing in size with each passing second. "Please let him go… I'll do anything… Tyki…"

Immediately the red head was dropped and he fell to the floor, gulping in huge gasps filled with sweet, delicious air. He coughed a few times, trying to regain all the oxygen that had just been cut off from his body. He was shaking. He had never been choked like that before… Hell he had never even been choked in general. He tried to stand up, but failed miserably, his legs not strong enough to hold his dizzy frame. Instead he curled up on the floor, not sure what else to do right now. His lungs and fingers hurt tremendously. His head was spinning at an alarming rate. He couldn't seem to breath enough air before being done thanking its blessed presence. Sure he had experienced a few encounters where he was held under pool water for too long, but this was completely different.

He looked up to see a very blank expressional Allen being held by the wrist of a triumphant Tyki. "See, Eye Patch? Allen know how this works. Now it would be best for you to understand if you ever want to see the outside world again." He stepped out of the cell, still rambling, "I'll even give you the choice and leave the door open. If you're smart, you'll stay in here and accept defeat. If you want to be stuck here for eternity, fell free to follow me while I go deal with your little boyfriend." Lavi hissed in agitation. Now Tyki was playing mind games with him. He could either attempt to save Allen and possibly doom both of them, or let Allen get abused while he sat here doing nothing and live out his minimal sentence, forever hating himself for not being able to do more. It wasn't much of a choice.

"Lavi, don't follow me, OK?" Allen smiled sadly down at his pained friend. "It's nothing I haven't already been through." He watched as the two figures walked away and down the hall. He stared at the open bars looming in front of him. If he wanted to, he could just jolt through the exit and run out the prison to freedom. He knew how that would end though. They'd catch him again and lengthen his sentence. He could run out and go get Allen, also throwing himself into a longer sentence. The final choice: sit here, do nothing, life goes on as it was. It was tempting to say the least. But Allen… He thought about the white haired youth's last words to him. Maybe it was something Allen had been through many a time before, but that didn't change the fact that it still hurt. If you stab someone, they don't just get used to it after the fiftieth time. It hurts just as much as it did the first time.

He slowly picked himself up off the floor, arms and legs shaky, but confident nonetheless. Lavi kept his eye fixed on those open bars, like they would shut themselves if he looked elsewhere. He steadied himself by using the bunk as a support. He thought about all the things that had happened to him since coming here. Meeting Allen, doing prison labor, meeting Kanda, Hanging with Kanda and Allen, meeting Komuii and Lenalee through Allen, kissing Allen, almost kissing Lenalee, living with Allen… His life was nothing without Allen now. Before he could have decided pretty quickly to stay there and let someone else take the heat for his actions. But this was Allen. His life, love, and precious counterpart. Everything about Allen was wonderful to him, even the maniac cheater who occasionally poked his head out and robbed Lavi of his valuables. He glared through the bars and started stumbling forward. There was no way he'd let Tyki get the final victory in this fight. Never. He stopped right before the exit, know that as soon as he stepped out, it would all be over. Allen was worth that much to him though… If there was even a slight chance of saving his love from being hurt against his will, he had to go for it.

He stepped through the bars and out into the hallway, getting raised eyebrows from many of the surrounding inmates. He ignored them and took another step onto the direction Tyki and Allen had gone.

"You going, One-Eye?" Kanda's normally growling voice reached his ears from the cell he was next to.

"Yeah."

"You're just gonna get thrown back you know."

"I know."

"Is the brat really worth that much?"

Lavi turned over to look the Japanese fire cracker in the eye, responding with a simple "Yes".

Kanda shrugged both shoulders in submission. "Well then, what are you waiting for, asshole?"

The red head chuckled grimly at the remark before continuing on his path. He walked where he though they had gone, following only sheer gut feeling at this point. Even if he didn't know where they where, he had to find Allen. He had no plan, no sense of direction…. He just needed to save Allen. That was all there was for him.

He stumbled around for a bit, looking everywhere they might have gone. All the while he was avoiding guards trudging up and down the hallways, not wanting his rebellious rescue plan to end before it had even began. He walked down one hallway for some time, not seeing anything that looked suspicious. But before too long he had found a door with a label that read "Tyki Mikk, Therapist" on the polished wood. He opened it and peered inside, ready to see anything, no matter how gruesome. No one was in there at the moment and he frowned. He stepped all the way inside, looking to the lounge chair and fluffy couch off to one side, with a furnished desk on the other. It wasn't a bad set up, rather nice for a prison therapist actually… He walked over to the desk and opened the drawer, searching inside for some kind of evidence against the sicko. Nothing really worth using came up, it was all just a bunch of inmate files.

His ears perked up when he heard those clackity shoes heading in his direction, followed by another set of smaller, more reluctant feet. He heard the distant sound of Tyki's musical voice, saying something he couldn't really decipher as of now. The red head bolted into a conveniently place closet and closed the door quietly. He would wait for a good opportunity to jump out and take the tall suited man with the black curly locks by surprise, presenting Allen with an escape route. He took in the barely lit closet with semi-interest, noting how many odd objects were either shelved, or strewn across the floor. He ended up picking up one of these objects and inspecting it closely, not all that shocked to see a pocket knife on the floor of a psychopath's closet. He opened it, looking of and down the miniature blade carefully. It was sharp, most certainly. It was the kind where the blade took a weird curve and jagged inscription on the opposite side of the cutting edge. It was about medium size, fulfilling the length of the red head's entire hand. _Enough to kill someone,_ he thought grimly.

He dropped the object of interest upon hearing Tyki and Allen enter the room. He listened closely, wanting to seize the perfect moment in which to set Allen free. Something was set down on a table and he heard the slight creak of someone sitting on either the couch or lounge chair.

"Why don't you sit, boy~?"

No reply. Just a second rustle, signaling that Allen had obeyed the order.

"I guess your eccentric friend didn't see it fit to show up here."

No reply.

Lavi smirked to himself._ Just you wait._

"He really is a bothersome one, isn't he? I really don't see how you could have taken interest in a brute like him."

"Lavi's always nice to me."

"Well I'm nice to you too, aren't I? Frequently giving you breaks from your cell to come and spend time with me?"

"Lavi would never hurt me." The younger boy's words were lifeless and dull. Lavi could imagine him staring at his shoes intently.

"To be fair I only started hurting you after you started rejecting me."

"You kept asking for things I didn't want to give you." Allen muttered. It was quite hard to hear him, being that he never spoke up in general, most certainly not now in the current matter he was facing.

"How about this," There was another creak, giving evidence that the man was now leaning forward, "You dump that flavorless mutt, and I'll have you out of here in less than a month."

"You always lie."

"I promise."

"You don't keep your promises."

"Oh and what, your new little friend does?"

No reply. Lavi tried to picture that maybe it was Allen nodding his head, but that was giving himself too much credit.

"Humans aren't perfect, boy. Eventually he's going to abandon you like all the rest, with the exception of myself of course."

"Lavi said he wouldn't-"

"How can you be so sure?"

No reply.

"Is he even aware of what you've done?"

The room was quiet, Lavi holding his breath. Next it was Allen's turn to talk.

"No, but he said he didn't want to know…"

"That's because he doesn't want to know what kind of monster you truly are. To him you're this perfect specimen without flaws. He's afraid that if you tell him you're imbalanced, he won't be able to pride himself on the spotless find he has discovered. It would be like finding a rare, beautiful diamond, then being told it's a complete fake."

Damn this guy. Lavi gritted his teeth, though stopped once the bruise forming on his neck throbbed from doing so. Therapists were able to work their way into someone's mind and mess with it to every degree possible, which normally helped with solving problems…. But now Tyki was using his power to cause them.

"Lavi said he loved me…"

"He's in love with your façade, boy."

"No…"

"Yes." A heaving sigh from the chair as Tyki supposedly stood up and walked over to Allen. "You've only been playing this innocent boy to reel him in and have someone accept you. But you don't need to do that, Allen. I already accept you."

Lavi heard a kissing sound and put all his strength into not jumping out this very minute.

"Tyki, stop…"

"Isn't this what you want? To be accepted?"

"No…" The voice was shaky and unsure. The hiding red head's heart thumped loudly in his ear. What if Allen left him for this man's words of false advertisement?

"Then what do you want?"

"I want Lavi…"

"Do you?"

No reply.

"He won't even be around here for very long. And once he leaves, you know what he'll do?"

"No reply.

"He'll leave you here all alone, just like your uncle and everyone else. They don't really want anything to do with you, Allen." Another kissing sound. "Not like I do."

"I'm only here so you won't bother Lavi…"

"So you won't put up a fight this time?"

No answer.

"Good. I guess you finally learned your lesson."

Some more rustling was heard while Allen let out a whimper. Lavi pictured the older man positioning himself on top of Allen, it was all he could do not to throw a punch through the wall. His body was rigid with anger. But he would have to wait, still for that golden opportunity. _Come on, Allen. Just distract him a little more and I can jump out and save you._

"Remove your shirt, boy." There was a long pause and then a satisfied purr from Tyki. "Good boy. You're doing a lot better today."

Lavi was waiting for a very specific signal. He tensed his body, ready to pounce as soon as he heard it. From the other side of the door more kissing noises could be heard, along with Allen yelping in discomfort. He tried to listen passed all those distractions, though, not wanting to be robbed of this chance to get Allen out of here without him being hurt too badly. Time seemed to slow as the faint sound of a zipper being undone reached his ears. That was it. The signal he had been waiting for.

He jumped up, not alert to the shelf located right above his head, and would have cried out if it weren't for a giant, heavy object hitting him in the back of his skull. He felt his brain rattle and fell own with a hard thud, aware of a sharp pain piercing his left leg before falling into a world of swirling, black, unconsciousness.

TO BE CONTINUED

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** LAVI WHAT HAPPENED? Sometimes plans just don't work out the way you want them to…**

**Lots of Tyki in this chapter. About time I guess… How long could I hint at Allen's abuse while not putting in the cause of it? **

** Reviews, critics, and corrections are all liked :D**


	10. Shatter

**So, for those who don't know, I have a deviantart (like a lot of fanfiction writers, probably), and I made a picture for this story for fun. I'm about as much for an artist as a writer, and you can take that in any regard you see fit, I just like them both equally.**

**You can find it here: **.com/art/This-Prison-198226557

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Darkness surrounded Lavi as his senses started to come back to him. It was hard to think clearly… His head was swimming in dizziness and his entire body felt numb. He took in a breath of air, noting the strong smell of cigarettes that coated Tyki's closet floor. His left arm moved to lift himself up, but only went a few centimeters across the ground before encountering some sort of liquid. Had he pissed himself? How long had he been out for? He kept his hand away from that area and continued with trying to pick himself up. It occurred to him that he was doing this with only his left hand… Why wasn't he using his right? He tried to move his right hand and was frightened to find that he was unable to. His arm maybe? No go. He put all his strength into the one working limb and rolled himself over to asses the damage. It was little use to do so with only his eye though… It was pitch black except for a thin ray coming through the door crack, not nearly enough to satisfy him. Lying on his back, he reached for his limp shoulder, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. He grit his teeth and held back a cry when his searching fingers brushed against the awkward attachment. It was out of place… dislocated. Goody. He calmly breathed through his nostrils. This was something easily fixed. All he had to do was find someone willing to pull his arm and snap it back into place. No biggie. It was going to hurt like hell (He had heard one of his friends describe it as the worst ten seconds of their life), but there was nothing serious to worry over.

He lay there for a bit, knowing it was going to be a struggle to get up, but it was something he had to do eventually. His head still hurt like hell, from both the top and front at that. Why was he here? Wasn't he supposed to do something? He couldn't recall at the moment, deciding instead to make his escape. He searched for the door and located the knob easily. With a meaningful heave, he tried to use both his legs before being caught off guard by a sharp pain in his left thigh, much sharper than that in his shoulder. The surprise of it made him fall back down, putting pressure on his damaged shoulder again in the process. He hissed, using all his strength not to yelp out and give away his whereabouts. Why was he being so cautious? Shouldn't he call for help so maybe he could get out of here without all this hassle? For some reason his gut was telling him not to do it, that he'd be in danger if he did.

His working fingers made their made down to the cause of his inability to stand properly, investigating the rather painful nuisance. They slowed upon meeting a rather damp spot upon his jumpsuit, him wondering what the hell such substance could be. It was the same consistency of the stuff on the floor. He kept crawling his hand further, his jumpsuit becoming more and more damp as he reached for his thigh. Suddenly his hand grazed something somewhat carelessly, and he felt his head jerk back in agony. What was this? He reached again, much more cautious this time. His hand felt around a cylindrical shape, one that could easily fit into his palm. His heart skipped a beat. Oh no… That switch blade he had thrown away earlier… Somehow upon him falling down it had lodged itself hilt-deep into his lift thigh, blood now oozing out from the wound. He tried to keep himself under control, but found the deed becoming rather difficult with each passing second. He had been stabbed… Had he hit and artery? Why was there so much blood? He must have hit an artery, that knife was huge? Who the fuck kept a knife in a closet? What kind of idiot was he to throw it on the ground without closing it? What should he do? Was this wound dangerous? Was he going to die from it?

His dizziness wasn't improving, the unseen world becoming rampant with swirly dots. He wanted to puke, but couldn't. He was too tired. He had to get out of here… If he didn't… If he didn't… What? What would happen? Why had he thrown himself into a closet only to be both stabbed and right armed handi-capped? He tried to organize his thoughts, thinking up a solution. He remembered there was a phone in the office right outside this door. He could call for help… No. He couldn't. He was in jail. People called for help because of inmates, not for them. Sure enough, he was not the normal inmate.. But still. He was doomed. No. He could open this door and find Link. Link wasn't a bad guy… He was stern and overly rational, but not a bad guy. Ok, that was it. He could do this. He reached up again, doing his best to ignore the distress coming from all angles of his body. He turned his hand, expecting the knob to do the same. It didn't. He huffed in annoyance and tried again. No budge.

He slumped back down for a second time, staring wide eyed at the blank nothingness. The door was locked. Who the hell had an outside locked door? Wait this was prison… It was probably a both side locked door… like most locks in here it was done with a key, not a switch. He felt his hope fleeting from him faster and faster. There was no way out… He was stuck here until someone opened this bloody thing, and most likely that person would be Tyki. Tyki… Tyki… Shit. That's why he was here. He ground his teeth together until they hurt. He was supposed to jump out and rescue Allen! Now he was the one who needed rescuing… Fuck… Now he was going to slowly bleed himself to death… Now he was doomed, and Allen was doomed… They were all doomed… No. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to be the hero and save his lover from a crazy pedophile, not get his head smashed in and stabbed in the thigh.

The red head hugged his limp arm carefully. Damn it. No way out. Stuck. Bleeding. Dying… Was he dying? Could people die of leg wounds? They could… if it hit an artery… Had he hit one? By the amount of blood already on the surrounding floor he guessed he had. His mind started working a thousand miles a minute, searching for some way to salvage himself. Well, he could start with this knife… Having it jammed there probably wasn't helping matters. Of course, at this time Lavi wasn't thinking very straight, his mind fuzzy from being abused and blood loss only making matters worse. He had to take some form of action though. No way he would die here. No way he would leave Allen to get eaten alive by that sick pervert. No way. No how.

He searched the floor within the vicinity of which he could reach, making contact with a circular object he though to be a pencil. He put said thing in his mouth and bit down, bracing himself for the feat he was about to endure. This would either save him, or kill him… It was up to the heavens to decide. The teen grabbed the switchblade handle securely, wincing from the disruption he was causing himself. Slowly in his head he started counting down from ten to one… He had to get out… One way or another he would find a way… Five. He'd get out and save Allen. Four. He'd come back to show that Tyki bastard who was boss. Three. He'd survive this and carry out his sentence. Two. Komuii would come back and prove Allen wasn't crazy. Two. He'd protect Allen from all and every threat that could poke its head at the boy. One. He'd live, happily ever after, with Allen.

Zero.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH…!" His gurgled scream cut through the pencil's premise as he groveled on the floor in anguish. He spat the stupid thing out of his mouth and gripped his bloody thigh, knife still in hand. He fell onto his good side and tried to suppress any other cries that might make their way out. Everything hurt in that instance… His heart, his brain, his shoulder, his leg… Everything. Sure enough he had broken a bone or two in his lifetime from climbing trees or bike riding, but this was different. Completely different. It was the worst pain the red head had ever encountered and it was erupting in bursts he couldn't control. His immediate reaction was to throw the blade as far from him as possible, leaving him to tearlessly sob like a small child. He felt back to the wound, despite all this, checking to see how he did. Unfortunately, fate was not on his side it seemed. Blood was gushing more ravenously, bubbling out and eating away all the clean spots the well vacuumed carpet had to offer. He was bleeding… He was bleeding fast and there was no way to stop it. He threw his head back onto the floor and lay there, no longer making any sound. His dizziness was starting to get worse, and a strange tingling was spreading throughout his working fingers. His heart was racing, pumping out all the blood it could to only have it leave through the wound freely. He was out of options. There was nothing left for it… He either gave up his shredded dignity, or lose his life in this pathetic environment.

"HELP!"

HE banged on the door with all the strength he had left. There wasn't much.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"

His knuckles were already starting to swell and bruise. He was utterly hopeless. A joke left to die in a closet like some mistreated dog. This was his end… At least he could go out trying his best. Lavi was never one to accept defeat. Even in this dilemma where his life was ebbing away in a bloody river he couldn't stop, he'd go on fighting until his last breath.

"PLEASE…"

"Is that you, Eye Patch?"

Lavi's heart stopped. His hand started shaking and his breathing became erratic. He knew this sing song voice… It was the same one that haunted Allen's dreams. It was one of the last voices he had heard before being knocked senseless. Tyki.

"I heard your little blunder in there earlier. Have a nice nap did you?"

"Tyki... Stop…"

"I took the liberty of locking the door, so you couldn't get in my way again."

"Don't…."

"How's you head doing? Any better after that nasty fall?"

"My leg…"

"Oh yes, I saw that too. Good luck with that one. Right awful bit of luck, wouldn't you agree?"

Lavi seethed through all his haziness and pain. The man knew he what was happening to him, and was gloating through the locked door. He was meaning for Lavi to slip away and fall into eternal sleep. The man was evil. There was nothing for it though…. If he let the man go without his attention he would surely die. He needed to somehow survive. "Tyki… Please.. Open the door…"

"I think not."

"This isn't funny!" he cried desperately. "I'm bleeding!"

"You should be fine for another few hours. That is unless you pulled the knife out."

Silence.

"Don't tell me you pulled it out, Eye Patch… How stupid are you?"

"Shut up…" He started to panic. This was it? He was going to be demoralized until the very end? How did this happen? Where di he go wrong in life?

"Well, I guess you saved yourself an even more agonizing death." The red head could almost hear the smile through the glossy wooden barrier. "Enjoy watching me take Allen in the afterlife, will you?"

He hit the door as hard as he could, wishing he could break through and attack the man himself. He hated this. He hated this feeling of uselessness and insecurity. The fact that after all he had promised Allen… He couldn't live up to a word of it. Instead he was slowly vanishing into the dark depths of despair and nothingness. He wanted to escape so badly. More than anything… All he wanted to do was protect Allen. Be with Allen. He would do anything to escape from here and get just one last chance to save his love. To be honest, for the last two weeks he was a bit unsure as to how sincere his feelings were for Allen… They didn't do much in the regards of being a couple. But now he knew… They didn't need to be like one of those obnoxious high school pairings. He was happy the way they were. He wouldn't change anything. The fact that Allen was his and they could be in close proximity to each other… That was the ultimate treat. He wished he had been more open with Allen, so they could have more possibilities to hold each other. He wished he could have kissed Allen more. More than anything… He wished he could hold Allen one more time before he perished in this closet. Tell him how he truly felt, that he tried until the end. A hot tear escaped his single eye and he bit back a sob. He shook it away, knowing it was too late for such thoughts. This was his lot in life, and he had to learn to deal with it. He was going to lose to the scum of the earth. Without making an imprint, without even giving it his all. He stayed quiet, not making any sort of noise that might show Tyki that he was feeling defeated and weak.

"Is that all, Eye Patch?"

He bit his lip.

"Is this the end for you?"

His hand was going completely numb at this point, the knocking and blood loss catching up to him.

"I'll take good care of Allen."

The older man said it menacingly. He wasn't going to take care of Allen at all… He was going to continue tormenting the kid and telling everyone he was crazy until the boy really did lose it. Lavi punched the door once more, regretting everything. One more chance… One last goodbye! All those things Tyki had whispered into Allen's ear about him… would he believe them? After this… Would he forever hate the red head for never showing up to save him? His heart rate accelerated faster, pumping more and more blood, desperately trying to satisfy his leg wound. Was his vision going hazy? He couldn't tell through the darkness. He let his head rest against the door and felt the remainder of his body relax. He couldn't move anymore. Strange… All this time there was nothing he could've done. He was completely powerless until this moment, and he had blown his one and only chance. The knowledge of it all washed over him like a cold wave, persistent and uncomfortable, yet inescapable. This world was done with him so it seemed… And he had to get over that. He closed his eye, the lid tired and puffy from his former outburst. His mind was swirling with thoughts of the previous two months, every memory lingering on bits of Allen. At this point he wasn't really sure if he was still alive or not, all the feelings of pain and affliction melting into his personal history review. There he was lost, all color and outside noises faded into the abysmal depth Lavi assumed was his death.

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"Hey, you alright?"

Light filtered in slowly, seeping into green irises like fairy strands.

"I think he's coming to…"

"Lavi…?"

That voice… he knew it from somewhere. Where was it from?

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

He blinked, trying to get a grasp on what was happening. Where was he? Was he dead? He had to be. There was no other explanation for the white surroundings and strange voices. Though he swore he knew one of them…

"Lavi, please be OK…"

Allen? Was that Allen? But if that was Allen… Was he dead too? Did Tyki go after the boy once he was finished with the rebellious red head? He made an attempt to speak, but found his throat dry and relatively useless.

"Hey, kid, wake up! You're alright now, come on."

He opened his eye fully and looked around. Allen was there, face streaked in tears and muddled with a worried expression. Beside him was a blond Asian man (must have bleached his hair) wearing a look of extreme interest.

"Allen…?"

The youngest's face lit up and he flung himself around Lavi's neck, squeezing tightly until Lavi couldn't breath. He moved his arm to try to tap the boy on the shoulder, noticing how it was no longer damaged. He wiggled the fingers, entranced by how easily they move when he was unable to do so before.

"Lavi, I'm so happy you're safe!"

The older teen felt his shoulder becoming moist with tears. He felt his throat tighten. Was he really here? Was Allen really here? Or was his mind playing some horrendous prank on him? Not wanting to lose this opportunity again, he hugged onto the younger with all his might, never wanting to let go again. He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent always associated with Allen. This had to be real. No figment, not even heaven could recreate this scent so perfectly. It was what made Allen most recognizable to him. The boy didn't need perfume or heavy colognes to mask himself, he was already perfect. Allen let go, and Lavi was somewhat reluctant to follow suit. He stared into those dull silver eyes, getting lost within their complicated structure. He was here. He was alive. He was with Allen. These truths he held to be self evident. Above all else. He fought off the urge to break down into Allen's arms and cry out everything he had just been through. He was stronger than that. His existence here and now was proof of this. He held the ability to fight and make it even when death was rattling him senseless. Instead he smiled and ruffled Allen's hair, his fingers getting an electric kind of tingle from the memorable touch.

Allen smiled back, even with those tears falling down his cheeks. Lavi felt a stab in his heart at seeing that, knowing this time he had been the reason Allen started crying. Regardless of all the effort he had put into always keeping Allen happy and out of harm's way, this time he had made the younger boy cry. It was his fault. There was no helping it at this time though, all he could do was make sure it didn't happen again.

"You've survived something quite miraculous there, Bookman Junior." He heard the other man in the room say. They were sitting in what look like a hospital bedroom, no one occupying the other bed, and the lights being so fluorescently bright one had to squint. Lavi looked over the man once more, noticing a familiar uniform being sported.

"Who are you?" He was finally able to voice his words without choking from the dryness. Was there water anywhere nearby?

"The name's Bak Chan." He stuck out a friendly hand to the eighteen year old and smiled lightly. "Me and Allen here are the reason you're still alive."

"How did you find me?" Lavi instantly countered. There was no way they just stumbled across him by accident, he had been locked in a therapist's locker for Christ's sake.

Bak leaned back in his chair, tilting it back a bit to make it more suited to his preferences. "This one over here," he pointed to the white haired youth, "was making one hell of a racket in his cell. He shouted out at the body guard until the young lad nearly lost his mind. Seeing how you weren't in your cell like you should have been, something like a search party was formed. Luckily we didn't have to look very long, because Allen knew exactly where you were, though he didn't explain how." He gave the red head a skeptical frown. "Finding you locked up in Mr. Mikk's office bleeding to death was a bit shocking to say the least. So we called an ambulance and rushed you to the hospital."

Lavi took a double take around the room. "You mean we're not in-"

"The prison? Dear lord no. Their infirmary in that place is filled with only the most basic equipment. We get that people do bad things, but no one deserves to be treated in that facility."

"How did you get the OK to take me here, though? Isn't Supervisor Komuii absent?"

The blond man lifted an eyebrow and cocked a grin. "I'm his stand-in until he returns. And he's told me plenty about you two." He looked from one to the other mischievously. "Though he failed to mention how you guys are romantically involved."

Allen looked down to his hands and Lavi blushed, glancing sideways.

"We didn't really want… other people to find out…" Allen muttered quietly.

"It's not something you usually shout out to people…" The older teen swallowed hard. How many more were going to find out? Lenalee knew (they had no choice or else Lavi was sure he'd get molested), Tyki knew(Damn bastard had a sickeningly close eye on Allen), he was sure Kanda knew (He overheard the conversation across the hallway, along with several other inmates), and now this guy knew. Was the whole prison just going to find out him and Allen were an item? It didn't make much difference to him anymore, really. He was embarrassed, sure. But the fact that he got his second chance to be with Allen, well, he was more than willing to be open about his relationship if it meant keeping the younger boy close to him.

"Whatever the case," Bak continued, "It's just good to know that you're safe. It would look kind of bad on my record if I became the first Supervisor to let an inmate die in that particular prison." He swished his bangs swiftly, probably trying to appear cool, but only making Lavi think he needed a haircut. "I want to know why you were in the therapist's closet though." He eyed both younger males steadily, not unlocking on either gaze for a second.

Lavi gulped. He looked over to Allen who was fidgeting with his jumpsuit zipper. The boy looked from Bak to the red head and gulped visibly. "Lavi was playing hide and go seek in the closet…"

Lavi rolled his single eye exasperatedly. Allen was a horrific liar. The worst. Even in situations like this where he wanted to hide his secret at all costs, the younger male was completely incapable.

"Hide and go seek." Bak deadpanned disbelievingly. "How did you two get out of the cell?"

Allen bit his bottom lip and looked at the floor. "Um… It fell open…"

"And you two just decided to walk out and play hide and go seek."

"Yes." The snow cap wrung his hands together, not sure where to take the story from there.

Bak sighed. "See, here's the problem." He stood up and walked over to Allen, giving the boy a stern look. "Komuii tells me you two are very well behaved. In fact, the ginger over there even gave him a hard time of letting you guys out on your little gallivant two weeks ago."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Lavi mumbled. Yes he had red hair, but why did they keep saying it like it was a bad thing? He huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms.

"Here's my point." The short, blond man put both hands on his hips to make his speech all the more poignant. "Why is it that two highly praised, supposedly anti-ruffian kids like yourself just walk out of your cell to play a child's game? And maybe put in the description on how one of you ended up with all of a concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and a severe stab wound."

Both kept silent. Lavi was mentally screaming, dying even to tell this man that Tyki Mikk was a no good child rapist who couldn't keep his greasy hands off of his Allen. But unless Allen said something, he wouldn't either.

"Things just happen…" Allen was refusing to put Bak in his line of sight, doing what he normally did and enthralled his vision on an uninteresting floor stain.

"Lavi?"

"What he said." The older teen nodded to Allen. This story was full of so much shit… No way this guy was going to believe it. And the one eyed delinquent would find himself to be quite correct.

"See, some of the inmates tell a different story." The oldest (or predictably oldest, Lavi couldn't tell for the man looked very young, though tired) sat and crossed his legs back in his chair. "Especially one individual named Yu Kanda."

Allen worriedly glanced at Lavi who kept a straight face.

"He said that Tyki came in to grab Allen for some reason, and that you," he pointed at Lavi, "went and started shouting at the man. Then he started choking you for some reason, and I'm guessing this part is true due to those lovely bruises on your neck."

Lavi instinctively touched his neck, feeling the sore spots and wincing a bit. Part of him was relieved that Kanda was there to see what had happened now, for without such witness he would have had to let Allen take control of the situation. He didn't want to be the reason his younger counterpart's secret got unveiled.

"Not only this, but he said he overheard something about how this man has been abusing Allen. I have no details on how or why, only that Allen was being dragged out of the cell against his will and it wasn't the first time. Afterwards, you followed after them and next thing we know, Allen's screaming from his cell, you're missing, and we find you near-dead locked in an outside-lock only closet. Any way to counter this one?"

The youngest tugged nervously at his glove, pulling and stretching while blowing up his cheeks. "Kanda's just dumb… don't listen to him."

"I heard similar stories from other inmates who saw it happen."

"They're all dumb…"

"Lavi? You have anything to say?"

Lavi shook his head a replied "I can't say anything without the consent of a specific person. I made a promise." He felt Allen's eyes linger on him, burning him with speechless gratitude.

"Pity." Bak released another sigh and rested his head on his palm. "It would be really nice to know if our inmates were being mistreated, that way we could get to the bottom of this and serve the correct justice. Inmates are people as much as anyone else, and don't deserve to be treated as any other such organism."

Allen huddled into himself, like he usually did when not knowing what to do about the situation. Lavi put a comforting hand on the boy's, putting on a serious, but still gentle outlook. "Listen, Al… Someone's offering to help you. Maybe it's time to tell a person who's not me about this, that way something can be done about it."

Allen resumed his blank examination of the ground, not replying. The red head put moved another hand to his back and rubbed with support. "Come on… This may be the only way out of this one, but you have to make the decision to escape. If you say no, I'll continue to do my best to protect you on my own… But I'm not a super hero, Al. I break just like everyone else does, and Tyki knows how to break me. I'm not as strong as you want me to be… we're going to need outside participation for this."

Bak put a thumb and forefinger to his chin and seemed to listen with full attention. Allen finally raised his face to meet Lavi's and gave him a scared expression. "Lavi, what if we fail? What if, since we told people, he comes after you like when he choked you? What if he…" Allen struggled with whatever he was trying to say, the words appearing to be caught in his throat. "What if Tyki kills you?" he whispered.

Lavi brushed the hair out of Allen's eyes and smiled, doing his best to convince the boy that this was the right thing to do. "If that's the case, the I would have died for a cause worth dying for."

"No!" Allen shook his head and hit the shoulder that hadn't previously been dislocated. "That's not what I want you to say!"

"I wasn't saying what you wanted to hear, I was saying what my true feelings are."

"Why are you helping me?" Allen's voice was shaking and he held a face like he was going to start crying again. "All I've brought you is trouble… Why aren't you leaving?"

"Because here there's something worth fighting for."

He squared his shoulders and sat up straight, looking Allen right in the eye. It was true, though the last few weeks had been a bit hard on him, and this latest incident especially, the fact was it made his blood pump with excitement. He may have been sitting, drowning in regrets when he thought he was dying, but now that he'd gotten to see Allen again, he knew just how far he was willing to go. All the agony he had suffered back in that closet, he would have gone through it all over again just to get back to Allen, to protect Allen. But he wasn't invincible, and he knew that. They needed reinforcements, a backup crew to take Lavi's place when he got shot down, stabbed, whatever consequence he might face. He was willing to go that far, but he needed someone else to help when he couldn't. Him and Allen's lives were at stake here, and their adversary was a very powerful man with manipulation over the prison.

Allen stopped shaking and put his hands in his lap, staring at Lavi with sincerity. "Would it really be worth it?" He said it as though he doubted the red head. "Lavi you almost died… Maybe next time you might… I can't have you putting yourself in danger for me. I already thought I had lost you,,, what if next time-"

"What about me losing you?" Lavi interrupted. "Have you thought about that? You know what it's like to almost lose someone close to you now, what about my feelings? Allen if I lost you…" Lavi shook his head, still holding on to that little, porcelain hand. "I'd give prison a very good reason to hold me for life just to get to the culprit. And if the culprit was me, I'd never forgive myself. I'd let myself live with that regret, because I know that death would be too easy."

Allen shook his head, trying to ward off these deep words. "Lavi…"

"I've made up my mind."

The younger inspected the two hands laying intertwined by his side. He sucked in a breath and tightened his grip on the red head. The he positioned the hands so that their pinky's were wrapped around each other like embracing lovers.

"Promise me you won't die, Lavi."

"Only if you do too."

Allen nodded. "I, Allen Walker, promise not to die for the sake of Lavi Bookman."

Lavi grinned and followed suit. "I, Lavi Bookman Junior, promise not to die for the sake of Allen Walker."

"Is this really that serious of an ordeal?" Bak cut in. He appeared to be genuinely stunned at just how far these troubled teens were going to go to reach their goal, him not knowing what it may be. "I mean I guess since you were so injured… But I never thought something like this would happen in a prison overseen by Komuii."

"Listen, Sir," Lavi directed his words at the short Asian substitute, "If we choose to tell you what's going on, you may have to go up against superiors and popular opinion to help us. You can't just half-ass this one, for if you get involved and quit, we'll be in even more trouble. Can you do that?"

Bak leaned back in his chair and let a cocky grin play out on his features. "Huh, obviously you aren't aware of how brilliant I am." He whipped his hair for emphasize, and then looked back to the younger males. "Plus, from what Komuii says, you guys are pretty good people, and good people don't let other good people get hurt by bad people. Oldest rule in the Gentleman's Code."

"What is 'Gentleman's Code?'" Allen wrinkled his nose and looked to Lavi, who had mentioned the same thing a few times before.

"It's the code that all gentlemen live by. We set up a line of rules that one must follow to be a full fledged gentleman. It's like the Bro Code, but more classy."

Allen grabbed his head and made a whining noise. "I don't get it…"

"Maybe someday, kiddo."

"Any who!" Bak clapped his hands loudly, calling all eyes back to him. "I agree to help you, and I will do all in my power to get others to help as well. I am sure the regular Supervisor won't have a problem about it, and we both have allies of our own. But before I can help, I need to know just what's going on." He gave Lavi a stern glare, arms now crossed against his chest in attentiveness.

"I think it would be better if Allen told it… Since this was his problem to start with."

Allen hugged himself and tried to cover his face with his knees, finding it not so easy when sitting on the edge of a hospital bed. "I don't know if I can…"

"Come on, Allen." Lavi ruffled his counterpart's head tenderly and placed a light kiss to the side of it. "We can get you out of there, but we need you to tell us all the details first."

Allen grabbed onto the older teen's hand again and nodded slowly. "ok… Well, I spent some time in a younger kid's jail facility before being sent here when I turned twelve, and the therapist was Tyki of course…"

They would spend the next hour or so, listening in interest to the gruesome story Allen was about to completely unravel for the first time. It was a step, not a big step, but enough of a step to get the red head and white haired youth up off the ground and into a region where they could have some power. There was still more fighting left to do, but with help they could accomplish their goal.

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**FUCKING HELLA ANGST! WHERE DID THAT EVEN COME FROM?**

**So I've never died, hopefully I never will (haha lol, what?) But I can imagine that it wouldn't be a good time being that near to death. **

**Step to the finish line? Still not sure how long this one will be… We'll just see how well it does and go on from there.**

**Reviews are always well liked :D Thanks for the support on this story, guys!**


	11. New Beginning

**Sorry this took so long to upload… When coming to this chapter I actually had no idea how to carry it out at first, so the beginning was redone a few times. Thinking through Allen's history took a bit more time than I intended it to…**

**Any way, thanks for reading guys! Enjoy!**

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Allen Narration.

He had started out in the psychiatric ward. He couldn't remember how or why they had brought him to this place, only that it had something to do with his latest actions. Adults could never understand the reasoning behind why he had done it, only that had created a huge impact on him as well. His crime was a serious one, according to the older people, though in Allen's mind he was only doing what he had to save his loved one. People could never understand. They wouldn't understand. How could they when they weren't him?

He wasn't positive as to how much time he spent in the ward. It wasn't too long, but it was long enough to make him forget about the outside world. When he looked out the window and saw blue sky, he would stare and try to remember some long forgotten memory. This was the place where they put insane kids who were too young for prison, but old enough to cause trouble. Here they would have gotten therapy and lectures to make sure they learned their lesson. Allen's first therapist was a woman with a nice smile and long, black hair. She called herself Anita and tried to help him understand what he had done. The problem lay with the fact that Allen knew what he had done, and he knew why he had done it, and, despite how he knew it was wrong, there was nothing he could've done to stop it. Eventually she gave up on him, and Allen was left without a therapist for some time.

It was when he turned twelve (or thought to have, he wasn't very sure about his own age) that they moved him into the Juvenile prison. There were way more kids there than at the ward, and all of them were older than Allen. They wouldn't keep the too far distanced age groups together, of course because by doing so the nineteen year olds would make easy prey of the twelve year olds. Still he had to deal with some nasty fourteen year olds who would find it funny to drag him out into a fight, or steal his lunch, or any other form of cruel play. He wasn't one to defend himself, so the bullying was probably harsher for him than any of the other inmates. One time he had gotten into a rather nasty brawl, three kids deciding to take him on all at once. He fought back as valiantly as he could, but Allen wasn't a very strong kid so he just ended up on the floor being repeatedly punched in the face. During the middle of it though, a man wearing a white coat and beret interfered and pulled the young white headed boy out of the fray. He had smiled and said "Well, look what you've gotten yourself into," before leading Allen away and to his office.

There he met the man's younger sister who was only about a year older than himself. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her at first, not having seen anything remotely female since his therapist, and she hadn't been exceptionally interesting. She was bubbly and cheerful, a bit too much for Allen's taste. She always swung him around, or when they got to see each other would make him play some sort of inane hide and go seek game, in which Allen would get lost, start crying, and lose every time. It was either that or House, and at that point they had gotten into an argument because Allen wanted to be the wife, and Lenalee wouldn't let him. Her older brother had told the two they were too old for these kinds of games, and Allen was inclined to agree, therefore they both switched to doing things like chess. Lenalee would quite early in the game, leaving Allen the ever victorious winner. Lenalee was his only real vision of what girls and women were like… needless to say he wasn't very impressed.

At some point the older brother, Komuii, had asked Allen if he had ever seen a therapist.

"Yeah, but she didn't like me…"

"Well it doesn't matter if they don't like you," Komuii frowned, "The point is, they exist to help you, and if they don't like you that doesn't give them an excuse to reject you."

After that, Allen was assigned a new therapist, and regardless of how skeptical he was, Komuii's word was pretty much law in this place. He remembered sitting outside the door, waiting to see what this person would be like. If they were anything like Anita, then this would be a rather boring and pointless encounter. He waited for what felt like ages before a tall suited man with dark hair and tan skin made his way to the door. He stuck in a key and unlocked it before looking down at Allen.

"Who are you?"

"Allen."

"What are you doing outside my office?" The man cocked an eyebrow and gave him a strange look. "This isn't Komuii's doing, is it?"

Allen blushed and nodded. He was incredibly nervous, talking to someone he hadn't met before. It didn't help that the gentleman was stoic and proper looking, making Allen feel like an unintelligent novice.

"Well, I guess you better come inside then." He sighed. The now thirteen year old Allen followed the older inside, taking a seat on an unexpectantly comfy leather couch. He looked around, inspecting everything from the chair opposite him, to the neat desk beyond it. It was completely different from the messy atmosphere of Komuii's office.

"So what is it you want to talk about?" The man folded both hands over his knee and stared at Allen intently.

In return the boy stuck both hands in his lap and looked back. "I dunno… Komuii told me to-"

"Supervisor doesn't just send people here without good reason. Why are you here?"

Allen gulped. This guy was intimidating… "Komuii told me I should come see you… Because my last therapist didn't like me…"

"Didn't like you?" The suited therapist drawled. It was obvious he didn't want to be here talking to some kid. "Listen kiddo, I deal with people who have problems. Like, if they can't handle prison, I'm here to help them through it. Or if they can't cope with whatever crime they've done, that's what I'm here for. I see no reason why you were sent here."

He felt himself shrink back into that big, comfy couch. This man was bluntly honest, and there was nothing he could say that might seem of interest. It was true that dealing with what he had done had been difficult, but he has accepted it as his fate and tried to move on, though it was hard with knowing he wouldn't see… him ever again.

"I don't know why I'm here…" Allen felt a tightness in his throat. This man was scary! Why did Komuii make him come here? He tried to hold back the tears he felt coming on. No… he couldn't cry in front of this guy… that would mean defeat. He couldn't be defeated… It was no use. The tears fell anyways and Allen hiccupped as his body shook with the effort said action took. "I don't know…"

The man sighed. He wrote something down into a notebook and looked back to his unruly patient. "Well, let's start with why you're crying."

"I don't know…."

"Come on, just tell me."

"No… you'll just get mad…" Allen plunged his face into his knees and felt the tears fall harder. Why was he crying? Why couldn't he just keep himself straight like all the other inmates? Why was he here?

"I promise I won't get made, just tell me."

"No…"

"Please? We're not making any progress just sitting here with you crying at me like that."

"I don't want to say…"

"Just say it."

"I'm afraid… of you…" The boy raised his head a bit, looking over to see the older man raising an eyebrow in what seemed to be interest.

"Afraid of me? Have I given you a reason to be so?"

"I don't know… You're just scary…"

A long pause of silence went by, before the room was filled with laughter. The therapist was throwing his head back… and laughing? He was laughing? Allen felt himself cry even harder in all the confusion, grabbing his head and shaking it "I'm sorry… I'm really sorry…"

"Don't worry about it." He looked at the younger with golden eyes filled with amusement. A small grin was plastered on his good looking features as he wrote something else down in his notebook. "I find it kind of funny that you think I'm so scary."

"I don't know why…" Allen whimpered. "Please don't get mad…"

"Even if I was mad, what could I possibly do?" Now he was upright again in his chair, listening keenly.

"You could hit me…" He whispered. "Like the other kids when their mad at me…"

"Hit you? Dear boy, I'd lose my job for that."

"Are you saying you would hit me if it wasn't for your job…?"

"Haha, no, no." The man shook his head. "I'm just saying, it would do me no good to hit you."

"Are you mad…?"

"No, just in mirth."

"Mirth?"

"Like when you think something's hysterical."

Allen looked up as his tears came to a stop. This man thought he was funny? Because he was scared of him…? He puffed out his cheeks. Strange joke…

"So anyways, let's move on, shell we?" He flipped to another notebook page. "Why is it that you're so afraid of someone hitting you?"

"Because all the other kids do it…"

"Why do they do it?"

"I don't know…"

"Do they do it just for fun?"

"I don't know…"

"How does hitting you make them feel?"

"I don't know…"

"How does them hitting you make you feel?"

"Bad…" Allen mumbled. This wasn't like talking to Anita… This man seemed actually interested where as she had started to rub her temples mid-way through a session and kick Allen out.

"Why does it make you feel bad?" The man's silky voice was worming it's way into Allen's mind, prying his secrets away from him.

"Because I feel like…" He looked down to his hands, wiggling the fingers a little. "I feel like they want me dead…"

"Really now? Why dead?"

"Because that's people are thinking when they hurt other people… They want them dead…" He was only acutely aware of the fact that his voice was starting to become distant.

"Was that what you were thinking when you hurt someone?"

His breath stopped abruptly in his throat and he trembled a little. "I didn't want to want him dead…" The boy started hugging himself. "I loved Mana… He was really important to me… but…"

"But what?"

"He died before I killed him…" Allen whispered. He could hardly hear his own voice, finding it a miracle that the other man could. "But then he came back…"

"Came back?" The therapist leaned back and put a forefinger to his lip. "What do you mean by that?"

"You won't believe me…"

"Try me."

Allen inhaled deeply before continuing. "Mana… died of a heart attack. When it happened I was really sad… I was so sad, that I wished for him to come back…" He looked up at the ceiling, transfixing his sight on a watery stain. "And then he did.."

"He did?" The younger brought his vision back to the older, who was at this point staring at him like a ghost had walked in and sat right on top of Allen.

"You don't believe me…"

"I don't know yet, you haven't finished. Go on?"

The boy shuffled his feet against each other lightly. "On that night… Mana came back…"

"From the dead?"

"Maybe he wasn't really dead… But he was back, and at first I was so happy…" Those salty tears were working their way back up again. "No one really knew him, so for all they knew he was still alive… And it had only happened a few hours before…. The heart attack I mean…" He gripped the fabric on his knees. "But when he came back he was different. He didn't talk to me, and just started putting his hands on my throat…" Allen touched his throat lightly, like the incident was happening all over again. "Then he said, 'You have to kill me, Allen, I can't control myself'… And I started crying… Like now…" He pointed to the stains on his cheeks. "But it was really hard because I couldn't breath… I don't know why he acted like that, but the only thing I could do to escape was…"

He couldn't carry on. It was too hard. Everything was too hard. Why did Mana have to die? Why did he have to come back, begging for Allen to kill him? Had he really? Or was Allen just crazy? He hadn't told anyone about this since he had called the police after disposing of his beloved foster father… Why did he start now?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see that the man had made his way over to his side. "My name's Tyki." He held out a hand for Allen to shake.

Instead, the younger just tightly gripped the sleeve and leaned over to continue his fit. His heart hurt… His chest hurt… His lungs hurt… His throat hurt… His eyes hurt… It hurt to talk about Mana… Why had he confessed? It's not like doing so could bring Mana back… "I-I'm Allen…" He sniffed.

"You told me that already."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's ok." Tyki moved away and resumed his position in the lean-back chair. "You opened up quite a bit there, boy."

"It was an accident…"

"Nonetheless, it's good for both of us." He casually lit a cigarette and inhaled pleasurably. "I'll continue to be your therapist, if you want."

Allen's eyes lit up. "Is it because you like me?"

"I find you interesting."

"So…" He hesitated, not one for speaking his mind. "Are we… friends?"

"Sure."

"Really?" Allen jumped up off the couch and ran over to Tyki. "You promise?"

He was given a confused look that melted into a smile and a hair ruffle. "Sure, boy."

"So.. You don't think I'm crazy? About the whole… coming back to life thing?"

"I think you're confused, but we'll work things out."

Allen felt a radiance grow in his heart. Someone who knew what he had done that didn't hate him…. It made him feel accepted. The man had called him confused, but he seemed to be willing to listen to what Allen had to say in the matter without a horrible amount of judgment. He wanted to give Tyki a hug, though he decided not to when he remembered what it was like when Lenalee hugged him and how much it usually upset him. Hugs were for girls only. Boys don't hug boys.

The next year or so Allen spent a great deal of his time talking to Tyki, telling him about what happened each week, or what he was thinking. Tyki would listen, smiling, jotting down materials in a notebook. Allen never asked what could be on the notebook, since the last therapist had one too. It came to a point where the two were talking casually in the hallways, or Tyki would invite Allen to lunch in his office. The white haired youth loved lunch in Tyki's office, for it meant that no one else could come to pick on him. They were good days. Tyki was the boy's best friend. That was how he felt anyway, and Tyki didn't do anything to push him away even when finding this out.

One day he was in Komuii's office, once again avoiding the awful hugs of his little sister, who was now fifteen and should've stopped acting like such a brat. Komuii smiled over to Allen before shuffling some papers away.

"You seem a lot better these days, Allen."

Allen climbed up and out of the girl's arms and beamed back. "I've been feeling a lot better lately, thanks to Tyki!"

"Are the therapy sessions really going that well?" The Supervisor's face became a little irked about hearing just how excited Allen had gotten.

"He's really easy for me to get along with, and he listens to everything I say, and we get to eat lunch together-"

"Allen, a therapist isn't supposed to be your friend, they're just there to help you through things…"

"Isn't that what friends do?" Allen swung neck so he was resting on the couch arm, looking at Komuii up-side down.

"I guess… But it's just not healthy to get that close to someone who's job is to be disconnected in all things." He put down some paperwork and moved to take a seat across from Allen.

"It's good to have friends though."

"Does he think of you that way?"

"I…maybe…"

"Has he told you?"

"No…"

The man sighed and pushed up his glasses. "Just don't get too hooked on Tyki, ok? Me and Lenalee, we are your friends and we can be here if you need anything."

"But you guys aren't here all the time…" Allen started fiddling with a piece of hair. Why was Komuii so against him and Tyki being friends? No one else had a problem with it… Maybe Komuii was jealous.

"I know, but Alle-"

"You're the one who assigned me to him." The youth was quite frankly sick of this 'Tyki is a bad person' charade. Tyki was his closest friend and anyone who had a problem with it wasn't worthy of his time. "I think I'm gonna go now… if that's ok."

He was given a sad look from the Supervisor before hearing, "If anything happens, just come and talk to us, ok?" Lenalee gave little wave and Allen grimaced inside. Talking to Komuii, sure. Talking to Lenalee? No. Unless she was telling him he could be the wife if they ever played house again. It wasn't fair that the girls always got to be the wife…

It would be a few months after that where Allen would witness something, causing him to question Tyki as a person. He was walking by the Therapist's door, and noticed it was slightly ajar. Usually he would sit aside and wait for Tyki to come out, but on this occasion he thought he might surprise the older man. He peeked through the door slyly, but staggered back a bit at what he saw. Tyki had one of the younger inmate boy up against his desk and was making weird motions with his mouth on the boy's neck. The boy was letting out noises that Allen had never heard before, strangled and slightly breathy. His pants were off and his legs were wrapped around Tyki, making the white haired youth ponder all the things that could possibly be being done. He was never cultured on the art of sex, in fact he probably didn't even know the meaning of the word at the time… So there was no way to describe this action he was witnessing. Was Tyki hurting the boy? But the boy made no moves to push the older man off, instead wrapping his arms around him securely.

Allen went to go and sit down, waiting for his therapist and unknown kid in there to be done with whatever they were doing. Maybe he could ask Tyki about it? What if he got mad, though? It wasn't in Allen's right to look through the door in the first place. He sat contemplating these things until he heard said door get pushed open, Tyki's hand on the handle and looking down at it with a weird face. The boy just walked out and into the hallway, away from the Therapist and white headed teen. Tyki looked from the door handle to Allen, a blank expression taking place.

"How long have you been here, Boy?"

Allen looked up and fidgeted with a bit of clothing. "I looked in, Tyki… I'm sorry…"

"What did you see?"

"You were hugging that other boy and he was making weird noises…" Allen was drifting off in his explanation. How was he to describe what he saw? He had never seen anything like it…

"Why don't you come inside my office."

"Ok…"

Allen moved off the couch and walked inside, duly noting where Tyki had previously been… he had no words for the action… But the boy had looked kind of like he enjoyed it…

"So what are thinking right now?"

The boy pet the couch he was sitting on, admiring the leather polish. He couldn't feel it with his left hand, though… In case Tyki saw his arm and thought it was disgusting. He had told Tyki about the arm, but refused to show the mangled limb, regardless of how many times he had asked. He got back to Tyki's question. "I don't know… I don't really know what I saw…"

"Did it upset you?" The older man moved across the room and, instead of sitting on the normal chair across, took a seat next to Allen.

"I don't think so." Allen tried to smile at his 'Friend', but it was a bit forced because of the worry pushing through his chest. "I just want to know what it was…"

Tyki sighed and ran a hand through his untied hair, lingering on one of the licorice pieces for a moment. "That boy wanted to get out before his dated parole, so I am helping him with that."

"That helps?" Allen wasn't trying to sound skeptical, but was afraid it might have come out that way.

"It helps." He smirked lightly. "I say who comes and who goes in this place, even more so than Komuii. So by helping me, that boy is able to get out earlier than others who may have committed the same crime on the same day."

"How does it work?" Allen's interest was piqued now. If there was a way to get to the outside… It had been so long since he had seen it… But if he could escape all the bullies and work and that uncomfortable cell room… If there was anything he could do to accomplish that, then maybe Tyki was doing a good thing…

The older man gave him another weird look before starting to pet Allen's head gently. "I don't think you're up to something like that, Allen."

Allen brushed off the hand and took up a position so he was leaning on Tyki's shoulder. "I'd do anything to go outside, Tyki! I don't like this place… You and Komuii are the only good people here…"

The younger didn't notice the tight up-twitch of Tyki's mouth before he straight faced and said, "You can't possibly be ready for something like that, Allen. It involves kissing and some other things. Have you ever kissed someone before?" He explained it with an airy tone, like he was egging the smaller male on.

"No…" Allen said dejectedly. "But… If it means Outside… I'll do it…"

"I can get you outside, Allen."

His heart skipped a beat. Outside… could he really go? Was it possible? All he had to do was hug and kiss Tyki.. And he could be free! He felt butterflies in his tummy. "I really want to go there… I-I don't know how to do those things though…"

"I can teach you as we go along." The therapist was grinning at this point, holding Allen's petite waist in his hand like some sort of appetizing candy. "If you want, we can get kidding down today."

Allen felt those butterflies suddenly become frantic and bat around his insides. Was he ready to kiss someone? If it was Tyki… But this would be his first kiss… Was he ready? Tyki had already given him warning, but he had shrugged it off. Too late now…

"I-I guess it wouldn't be too bad…" In that instance he was slowly shifted into a position where Tyki was on top of him, and he was sprawled out on the couch, helpless and with no escape. "Wait.. Tyki.."

"You gave me the go ahead Boy~."

"I know, but… Just give me a second…"

"Just don't think. Let me think for you. Isn't that how this usually works? I tell you what to do, you follow my advice and feel better." A hot breath washed over Allen's exposed throat and he yelped in agitation. He had agreed to something… Something he was now heavily regretting… Maybe Komuii was right about making friends with therapists… Maybe he would have been fine with it if he had been given some time to contemplate the event taking place right on top of him, but as things stood he was completely unprepared to do this kind of thing.

Allen winced as Tyki shoved his lips onto his own and immediately started trying to push a tongue into Allen's mouth. He muffled an upset cry and made an attempt to throw his therapist off of him, though the action was to no avail. He didn't know what to do. All he could do was sit there and let his mouth be molested by this creep. It was slimy and gross, he wanted to throw up but was afraid Tyki would be infuriated if he did. The older man was rubbing up against him while moving his mouth down to the boy's throat. Allen wanted nothing more than for this to be over and for him to hide under some bed covers in his lovely, beautiful cell. That cold, welcoming, secluded cell away from everyone else. Where no one could get him. Where he could sit away from the bars and watch the menaces outside struggle to get to him. He could sit in that corner and watch the world without any connection. That was where he wanted to be right now, not getting a disgusting muscle shoved in his mouth and leaving dirty marks all over his neck and collarbone.

"You're delicious, boy~."

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He sat by himself in the cafeteria, not wanting to go eat with his previous lunch partner anymore. He got picked on again his hair being pulled as some older kids kicked him in the stomach. He didn't fight back this time. He felt dirty. Defiled. Utterly vile. He deserved this. Anyone who was as revolting as he was should be beaten down and defeated like this. He hated the lingering taste of Tyki's spit mixing in with his own blood. The sensation of his arm twisting to an almost breaking point becoming numb compared to the shame he was experiencing. He didn't cry out. He didn't yell. He didn't cry. It was the first time he had not wanted to be saved. All he wanted was to be kicked and stomped into the ground until he was part of the ground, therefore being able to avoid he next step of his Devil's deal with Tyki Mikk. He wanted to die.

"Hey, Hey! Break it up!"

Komuii ran in and grabbed the smaller boy out from the sea of miscreants. There wasn't much resistance; anyone who messed with Komuii would have to deal with the new young body guard, Howard Link. Rumor had it he was some kind of marine trainee who got a side job just to beat down on troublesome inmates. Needless to say, he got the job done, so saving Allen was now a much easier task. They quickly stepped away from the fray and headed to the Supervisor's office. Allen was limping the whole way, having to use the older man as a heavy support.

He was sat down on that familiar couch, fairly glad that Lenalee was nowhere in sight to hug his soar body. Komuii grabbed a couple tissues and brushed at the boy's profusely bleeding nose.

"Allen, are you ok?"

He nodded, feeling completely disconnected from his surroundings. He was distracted. Why had Komuii come and saved him? Why couldn't the man just leave him to his better fate of being grinded to dust so that he wouldn't have to go see Tyki again? He made a face at the peroxide being placed on his cuts, the tiny wounds fizzing up in irritation.

"Usually they don't get you this bad… What happened?"

Allen tried to avoid the concern face he was being given. He didn't want to talk right now… Instead he just shook his head lightly in a manner he hoped represented that he didn't know. Komuii sighed and continued with his healing task.

"I don't get why they always pick on you… It's not like you did anything."

"I deserved what I got…" Allen mumbled. It came out without him really thinking about it.

"Why do you say that?" The Chinese man got on eye level with the younger male, gently petting the soft white hair.

"I'm disgusting."

"Allen… You're perfectly normal, just like everyone else."  
"No."

It was here that Komuii probably gave up on his dismal counterpart and went over to do some paper work so Reever wouldn't yell at him. There was a good hour of quiet before Allen got up and walked to the door, standing in front of it without an idea as to what to do.

"Supervisor?"

"What is it?"

"Can I go home now?"

"Go home…?"

"My room… I wanna go home now…"

The Supervisor gave a little smile and walked over to open the door for Allen. "Sure, I'll walk you back."

His leg still hurt, and there were still small increments of blood on his round face, but Allen wasn't horribly conscious of such things. That welcoming bed was all he wanted right now. To lay there and not get up until someone forced him to. That was home to him at this point. Since being taken in for Mana's murder, he hadn't known anything like a home, except for the cell that always stayed the same unless he changed it. It was the only thing he had control over. The only thing in his entire world personal to him. It was haven.

"Alright, I'm gonna go now. If you need anything, just call Link over and let him know. I'll come by any time you need."

"Ok."

With that the bars were sealed. Locked. Leaving Allen to himself surrounded by blissful solitude. No one was worthy of him. No one should be able to touch him. Yet at the same time, he was worth nothing more than a piece of garbage left on the side of the street. In this room he was king. Ruler. Emperor. No one could command him. He looked to his bed, and was duly surprised to see a little package box sitting there waiting for him. He looked to see who it was from and frowned a bit at the sender's name.

"Uncle Cross…" He grimaced. He didn't remember much from the outside world, but he remembered how repulsive the man who had sent the box had been. Always smoking some cheap brand of cigarettes, hitting of women that clearly held no interest in him, drinking away Mana's wine cellar without any consideration for how much those damn bottles cost. Who could forget Uncle Cross? He opened the package carefully, not want to get hit in the face with whatever odd device his deranged uncle might want to send him. Inside was a little golden figure about the size and shape of a tennis ball. With it was a note that read:

_You're no good at making friends, and your social skills are deplorable. I used some magic and made this for you, not really sure what it is. I named it Timcanpy, but if that's too hard for your simple minded brain, just call it Tim. See you when you get out, whenever that is._

_ -Cross Marian._

Did he mention his uncle was a magician? A loser magician. The lowest form of human being the world could ever witness. But the thought of the gift was kind of nice… He picked up the ball and inspected it closely, yelping in shock when it came to life and started flying around his head. He let himself smile a little. Tim could be his friend. No one else was worth trusting, but Tim could be his friend because Tim wasn't human. All humans were bad. That was the only truth one could really prove. Every human feels greed, desire, anger, anguish, loathing… Because they are human. There is just no helping them.

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He started to wring his shaking hands around each other nervously. He was back at the door again… The one he had been wanting to avoid for about a week now. But when Tyki said someone needed to be brought to his office, that person was dragged to his office, regardless of their personal wishes. He didn't want to go. If that sort of kissing was the first step in this awful contract he had formed, he couldn't even imagine the next step.

The door opened and Tyki stepped out to stand himself beside Allen. He was wearing a thin smile wired with malice and some other adjective he couldn't think of right now. It was a completely different face from the one he had been friends with only a week before. He had thought about telling Komuii, but what could Komuii do? Tyki was able to decide almost anything in this place, he had the ability to go directly to the higher ups without consulting anyone else and could make Allen look bad if he wanted to. Allen knew all this. He wasn't the most educated person around, he knew that. But he understood the basic laws of prison, in fact it was what he knew best. Now that he had agreed to this, he would have to see it through.

"Come in, Allen."

He stood up, hands, arms, knees and generally all part of his body trembling in distrust and fear. Who knew what Tyki would do if he defied him? It had to be worse than whatever was about to happen to him. He was now completely in tuned with the fact that the therapist had been building him up to this kind of thing since first agreeing to take Allen on as a patient. What other reason was there to pull him along like that and pretend to be friends? Tyki had changed so quickly… Obviously he had been working for this. From the start he had wanted to do whatever it was he was going to do… Had he left that door open on purpose? Just so he could explain to Allen that there was a way out? Still… if he could get out… He'd do anything to get out. He wanted Outside. He wanted to breath air from a forest area, go shopping in one of those "malls", make friends in school…. He inhaled deeply. He was prepared. Or so he thought. Was he? It didn't matter. He was in this now, and there was no other direction than forward. He would have to just keep on moving forward…. Forward.

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Almost a year after the first time. The first time he had been touched. The first time he had been stripped in front of another man. The first time he had experienced… That. It never got any easier. Never hurt any less, though he had learned to force himself to relax so he didn't tear. He was still here… still in this place. How much longer was it going to be before Tyki let him go? How long before he got to go Outside? He had no friends… no one he could talk to about this… Besides they probably wouldn't believe him and just assume he was the crazy kid Tyki was telling everyone he was. Tyki was good at that. He had created an environment so that Allen would be here forever if he chose it to be. Deep down inside, Allen had sort of given up on his dreams. The only reality was that he was here, the other inmates were surrounding him, there was no way out, and every couple of weeks he would have to be dragged out of his comfortable cell and devoured by an older creep who only cared about his body. These were the facts, and nothing could change them.

Today he was doing what he did on most days, pulling Tim's "cheeks" and pondering into deep space. Suddenly down the hall he heard a few people talking. One voice belonged to Link, the other to someone he didn't know. Was there a new inmate? Were they putting another in this sector? He peered out into the hallway and watched as a brilliantly red haired male was placed into one of the cells and locked in. The man looked down both sides, appearing to be inspecting the new surroundings making up these new accommodations. Allen went back to Tim, not giving the man too much thought. He was just another add on to the bullies that would take him out during lunch. There was nothing special about him. He gave the other another side glance, noticing the way he looked around like a lost kid not knowing his way back home. Should he talk to him? No way. Why would he even think that? Even if it was to give the older some form of help, he would react the way all the others did. He would shoo Allen off and melt into the rest of the mass. But what if…? He didn't look especially dangerous… no bruises or cuts on his face… the only warnings were an eye patch and a bandana… But those were pretty strong warnings.

He sucked in a breath. Maybe just say hi? It couldn't hurt. There was a fifty-fifty chance that he'd either make an impossible friend or get blown off. What if he made a friend? He'd been alone for so long… So, so long… What he would give to just TALK to someone… His mind was made up then and there.

"Hey, are you knew?" What was he thinking? Why couldn't he just say 'hello', or 'welcome'? Obviously the red head was new… He must sound like a Dumb. Why did he even start a conversation? He always came off as awkward.. This whole scenario was hopeless.

"Yeah. I just came in here, like, twenty minutes ago…"

He replied! He actually spoke back…! Allen's heart raced at a speed he didn't know it could. Ok… he should say something back… What should he say? How does one talk to another?

"Oh, um… Welcome."

He shut his mouth abruptly. Was that ok? What would the other guy think? Why was he so horribly unsocial? Even if they got into actual conversation, the other would grow to hate him. It always happened.

"I'd like to say I'm glad to be here, but that wouldn't be very honest, I'll admit."

He spoke like a smart person! Now Allen felt really dumb… How was he going to keep up like this?

"Oh… Yeah."

He should shut up. Right here. He needed to just shut the hell up and back out of this conversation. There was no hope of keeping on par with this seemingly intellectual red head. But then the unexpected happened. The man talked back. Despite Allen's incapability of keeping up a descriptive conversation, this man was talking to him! His heart soared and his hopes lifted a little. They talked for what seemed like hours… Allen's favorite part being when the man (Lavi, he said his name was) would explain all the attributes connected to the outside world. His most favorite of favorites though was hearing about all the technology, like how touch screens were popular now, which in his view, seemed like something out of one of those science fiction movies he overheard the other inmates talk about from time to time. His least favorite was talking about girls, which Lavi really seemed to be into… Regardless, he hadn't been able to talk to anyone for so long… even though listening was far more fun. Lavi had so many interesting things to say. And he was so smart… But he made it so he didn't treat Allen like an idiot.

Little did he know at that moment, that he would fall in love with this knowledgeable man. Right now he didn't even know what it was like to love like the love he would feel. He only knew the love he had felt for Mana and how much it had hurt when it was ripped away from him. But when it would hit, it would hit hard, and when Lavi would accept him he would start trekking upon an unknown world of open possibilities. He would meet Kanda who, though unpleasant, would become a step up in the art of making acquaintances. His verizons would widen. He would feel comfort, hurt, happiness, sadness, and a whole witch's brew of emotions that were to accompany entering the realm of friends and lovers. This was his new start. The road forward.

And here the story truly began for Allen Walker.

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**NOW WE KNOW! It's easier to write from Lavi's point of view than Allen's… All the awkwardness and disconnection is a bit hard to play out correctly for me D:**

**Hope it was done alright…**

**If there are any mistakes please let me know so I may fix them : )**

**Reviews are always nice!**


	12. Teamwork

**Shit.. this took too long, sorry guys….**

**Truth be told it wasn't school this time, but comic writing actually.. Me and my friend have been working on "Mayhem on the Eastern Front" and it's been taking a lot of time D:**

**Trying to get at least one good actual comic running by the time I'm 18 so I can publish it or something…**

**Any who****,**** hope it turned out ok!**

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The room was quiet for a bit after Allen relayed his story to the fellow two men sitting with him. Lavi wasn't able to blink for a minute, trying his best to fully grasp what had happened. It seemed that Tyki had led Allen on, making him think they were friends so that Allen could get taken advantage of. It made his stomach curl a bit. How was it that Allen had even opened up to him? He was glad the younger had, though. The dull lack of spark that had been making up his life for a majority of almost nineteen years had certainly been enlightened with the introduction to this white haired sociopath. After hearing all the details pertaining to Tyki and what he had done, he wished even more fervently to bring the twisted therapist to a certified justice. He looked over to Bak, who was sitting there calmly and appearing to be stirring all the contents he had been given around in that blond head of his until he found some sort of solution.

Allen was sitting completely soundless now, both hands shoved in his lap and his dull gray eyes observing the floor with more intensity than ever before. No one was speaking, so the awkward atmosphere was allowed to grow and accumulate into a dreadful cloud most likely causing no comfort to the smallest room member. Lavi softly stroked the soft strands hanging around his counterpart's face. Was it safe to say they were lovers? They had never slept together (That was still something Lavi wasn't ready to do, which probably worked for Allen too what with all his past experiences in that department), but they were most certainly close. He felt Allen lean into his hand and rub a little, the act so subtle it didn't even catch the eye of Bak. Still silence. It felt heavy and troublesome, but the red head was simply finding it impossible to say anything after all the information that had just passed his ears. What if he said the wrong thing? They were dealing with sexual assault, and it as no matter to be taken lightly.

"Have you told Komuii since then?" Bak spoke up.

Allen shook his head. He had moved a hand to grasp Lavi's gently, but still kept himself occupied with the floor.

"Have you ever told anyone else?"

Another shake of the head.

Bak sighed and leaned back, but a thumb and forefinger against his chin. "Well this may be difficult…"

"Are you saying it's hopeless?" Lavi blurted out without thinking. Even if this adult wasn't willing to try to find a way out for Allen, he still would. Allen was his. He'd do anything for him.

The oldest smirked and threw the eye patched delinquent a smoldering look. "I didn't say it was hopeless, now did I? It may take a while, but I assure you I will work my way around this one. I am brilliant after all."

Did he just call himself brilliant? What a cocky bastard…

"Well as long as you think you can help…" There was a slight bit of skepticism as to whether or not their new team add-on would actually be able to do anything, but any help was good help at this point. If he wanted to save Allen as he had promised, he wouldn't be able to do it alone. He had already experienced the outcome of his working alone first hand, and it had been an utter disaster. His leg twitched instinctively at the horrendous memory. Although… now that he though about it… This wasn't just Allen's fight anymore, was it? The man had laughed over him while he had been bleeding profusely, threatening to mock him until his last breath passed through formerly bluish lips. A heat of anger rose to his head. Tyki wanted him dead. That way he could get to Allen with no objections to fight him. He felt a little smug at the thought of how he was now an obstacle to the perverted man, and with Bak he would soon be able to put up supporting obstacles. Little by little, they would build a team and keep Tyki out.

Allen squeezed his hand a little on Lavi's, and the older squeezed back. Even if something happened to him, there was now another in the background who could take over after. Sure, if it was just them or just Bak alone against their therapist rival, chances would be quite slim, but as a combined unit situated in separated levels of the prison caste system fate was looking down a bit more brightly on Lavi and his quirky partner.

"Listen," Lavi addressed Bak with a serious tone.

"Hmm?"

"Make sure Tyki doesn't know anyone else is in on this other than me. Go and get other help, but do it so he doesn't notice until the last minute."

Bak Chan raised a questioning eyebrow. "Any particular reason?"

The oldest teen nodded slowly, then proceeded to cover Allen's ears. The younger tried to knock his hands off and look back, but the red head held on securely until Allen gave in and accepted he wasn't allowed to hear this bit. "If or when something happens to me, I want there to be a good fighting chance that Allen will be safe. If too many of us give up the fact that we are part of this operation, I fear he may make a drastic move and any progress we may make will be for nothing."

"Are you insinuating that something will happen to you?" Bak replied darkly.

"He's already made it clear he wants me gone." Lavi paused for a minute, making sure his palms were correctly placed so Allen couldn't eavesdrop. "If worst comes to worst, I am willing to go down fighting, whether that keeps me in here for life, or sends me to my execution. That man would have no trouble with killing me if he was able to get away with it properly, which as a therapist may be easily accomplished. I realize that by sticking with Allen I'm putting my life in danger, but I'm serious enough about his protection to take that risk. So, no matter what happens to me, make sure Tyki thinks I'm the only one siding with Allen. He can't suspect anyone else at any given time. Can you do this?"

The oldest male kept his normal vague expression and nodded sagely. "Am I hearing the finals words of a teenager's untimely death? Or the promises of an unsung hero?" He seemed to be saying it more to himself, so Lavi let it go.

He released Allen's head and immediately got a light smack on his right cheek. He was greeted by an angry looking Allen painted with confusion.

"Why wouldn't you let me listen?"

"It was just something I didn't want you to hear." The older of the two put on a light smile, trying to seem cheerful despite the grave details he had just relayed to Bak.

"Why not?" The snow cap didn't seem to be letting this one go.

"Just because."

"Lavi, tell me!"

"No, it's not important."

"We're together right?" Allen raised his voice and gripped both of Lavi's hands. "Then why won't you share things with me?"

"It was something he wanted to ask me personally," Bak cut in. "so if you're feeling a bit left out I apologize, but we can't afford to tell you."

Lavi watched as Allen grimaced and put his hands down softly. Beaten spoon colored eyes shifted in his direction and he felt like he was going to be swallowed up by the younger male's depths. He was leaving Allen in good hands on the likely chance of his demise. Was he really willing to die for him? A little twinge of regret pulled at the back of his brain, but it was overpowered by his determination for Allen. He was already this involved, and no matter what there was no way out. He had read stories where this kind of thing would happen, and he always wondered why the character would be so annoyingly devoted to their loved one. Now he felt he could relate though… Tyki was an evil man. Evil needed to be stamped out. In books and movies, the good guys always won, but this wasn't some kind of film or fable. This was his life, and it seemed relatively insignificant to the greater cause he had found in the one place he thought he would never find anything.

This was where he marked the true beginning of his personal battle against Tyki Mikk.

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It took a couple of days for him to recover from the knife wound he had obtained in Tyki's closet enough to be brought back to Juvie Hall. A little over a week spent with Allen wasn't all bad though, in fact it was pretty relaxing and laid back. Bak had given his permission for Allen to visit the hospital on a regular basis with him, even going so far as to step out for some "fresh air" leaving the two with short periods of alone time. Those times were usually spent with Allen climbing into the white sheets with Lavi and whispering odd conversation topics into his boyfriend's ear. And by odd, he really meant it. Lenalee had dropped by at one point and gotten a book for Allen at some used shop, the topic of it being about dinosaurs (apparently the white haired wonder really loved dinosaurs). The gaining of this book had inspired a thirty minute conversation about how weird it was that pterodactyls had wings connected to their back legs. Lavi had given up trying to understand the exact nature of this topic and why it was so intriguing, but as per usual Allen wasn't one to let things he thoroughly enjoyed slip away from his mind.

"Lavi, did pterodactyls have feathers?"

"What?"

"Did they have feathers? You know… Like chickens."

"How would I know? You're the one with the book."

"But this book is outdated…" Allen frowned at the cover and leaned on an open palm glumly. "I wish I had a better book… I like this one, but I want to know if pterodactyls have feathers…"

Lavi ruffled white hair none too gently. "We'll see if there's any way to Google it."

"Google?" Allen gave Lavi the most deadpan expression the red head had ever seen. "You sound like a dying fish."

How did he know what dying fish even sounded like? "No… It's a search engine… Like Bing…"

"That's a bell noise. Now you're just being dumb."

Trying to explain all these technology names was certainly a harsh pain in the rear. Apple, Blackberry, Windows…. Allen thought he was just talking about food or random household objects most of the time.

"How does music 'Shuffle'?"

"It just does…"

There was no hope in successfully describing these things, so on most occasions he just let Allen lead the conversation, despite how it usually lead to dinosaurs having feathers…

They weren't especially touchy, even when Bak would leave the room. Lavi liked to keep things kind of simple, and Allen seemed to be perfectly fine with it, or he didn't complain otherwise. A holding of hands here and there, sharing a blanket, rarely a kiss or too. The fact that Allen was a boy still made Lavi a bit uncomfortable. Yes, he loved Allen and everything about him, he just wasn't ready to touch everything on him. Initially he was straight, so having a relationship with a guy was going to take a lot more time to sink in all the way. He was willing to give everything up to Allen to make sure the young boy was happy, but unless he was asked specifically, he wasn't too keen on anything more than friendly company. It got scary where, on the rare occasions they WOULD end up making out, he'd feel a familiar tautness stir and he'd push Allen off of him for some space. It was definitely awkward, being in love with someone you didn't want to be with physically. It felt like something from that 'Twilight" bullshit… All this cuddly goop and not an ounce of pure rancid passion… He wasn't used to it. As long as Allen was wearing a smile, then he'd put up with these conflicting emotions and deal with them in their own time.

These times of peace wouldn't last forever as it would happen. Eventually Lavi had to return to the prison, and Allen full time along with him. He had almost been looking forward to it though, for being forced to stay in a hospital bed was far less than pleasant. Allen didn't seem entirely happy about such happy reunions with their cell and Kanda; he kept up a sour exterior and flinched at every sudden movement that would occur around him. Finally Lavi thought it appropriate the vocally notice the rather squeamish behavior.

"Al, you ok?"

"Huh? Uh… yes…"

"You don't look like it." He removed the hospital jammy bottoms he had been given and replaced his undressed (with the exception of his boxers, Allen was in the room after all) form with the awaiting jumpsuit he had come to be impartial to. "Come on, just tell me what's bugging you."

"You have to go back…" The younger boy slumped against the wall and frowned deeply. "Back to where Tyki is…"

Lavi smiled as best he could, trying to provide a stable comfort ground for his friend. "You worried about that? I'll be fine."

"But last time-" Allen started but shut his mouth and looked away. "What if something happens…? What if Tyki… I don't want you to get hurt for me, please…"

The red head zipped up the remainder of his suit and walked over to Allen, gripping his left shoulder and rubbing the arm gently. The white headed male blushed and seemed to melt a bit. "Why are you touching this arm…?"

"Because I can." Lavi stated. He had come to realize that any touch he applied to Allen's left arm was followed up by this cute reaction.

"But you've seen it… You know…" Allen brushed the hand still on his arm with care. "You know what it looks like… Why are you…?"

"Got you distracted, didn't I?" The older grinned and patted his partner's cheek good naturedly before resuming to put the socks he had gotten from the hospital in a little satchel thing. Good socks were hard to come by in prison, that's what the tabloids don't tell you. Allen blushed deeper and gave Lavi a right good punch in the shoulder.

"You're mean!"

"You're gullible."

"Mean!"

Allen stuck out his tongue and ran out of the room, only to bump into Bak.

"What's going on here, some kind of lover's quarrel?"

"Lavi's just a meanie." Allen muttered before returning to the room and huffily seating himself in a chair beside the bed. He opened up his dinosaur book again and read with a pout.

Lavi zipped up the little pack and stretched luxuriously. "Time to leave I guess?"

"Pretty much." The blond man propped the door open before leaning against it. "Komuii's back in the building now, and I think it's only fair to warn you, but I told him what's been going on."

There was a durable pause between the two teens. Now that Komuii knew… was there anything he could do? It was going to be a bit strange to return to the prison and have to talk to the eccentric Chinese man about the year and a half long turmoil Allen had been fighting. The younger's hands fumbled with a button to the point where the center one popped off. He jumped in surprise at the little plastic piece's upsetting betrayal.

"So we should probably head out to your car now, right?" Lavi did his best to cut through the thick tension condensing around them.

Bak nodded and stepped away, expecting the other two to follow in his footsteps. Allen pushed off from the wall and grabbed onto Lavi's sleeve, walking along the taller red head in near perfect sync.

"I don't wanna go back…" He whispered shakily.

"It's ok, Al. We won't let anything happen to you."

"It's not me…" He stopped, letting go of his counterpart. "Lavi…"

"Nothing's gonna happen. Come on, Bak's waiting." He tugged the smaller male along so that they could make it to the car without any more distractions. There was definitely a weird premise surrounding the two boys now, each one not sure what to say to comfort or convince the other. The red head slipped his hand into Allen's like always, except this time Allen seemed pretty much dull to the touch. Why was he being like this? Lavi let out a sigh, not knowing how to get Allen to be sure he'd be fine.

Things weren't much better in the car either. Bak wasn't much for conversation. When he did talk it was mostly to brag or reminisce about some chick he kept talking about name Fou or something… Really it made no sense. Allen kept his gaze out the window, Lavi kept his on Allen. They had made their first move, and now word would get around about Tyki hopefully… But there was still such a long way to go. Who knew if they would even be able to get any others on their side? Would Bak and Komuii be enough? Grimacing, Lavi suddenly thought about whether or not Lenalee would know since her brother knew. He was kind of hoping that the ridiculous girl would just stay out of it. Seeing how he didn't want Tyki finding out other people knew and Lenalee was a bit of a blabber mouth… There would just be no good outcome to her being in on it.

It was only about a ten minute drive from the hospital back to the Hall, but the overall silence between Lavi and Allen made it seem quite a bit longer. Bak yacking away didn't help in the least, but there was no point in telling him to shut up since he came off as the kind who would just keep going with it. Lavi felt a heavy stone-like aura dwelling in the pit of his stomach. Was this fear? He had never been around someone who had legitimately wanted to kill him before… Sure when he first came to this place, he was fairly certain someone would eventually want him dead. But he figured that they would get haggled before being able to get to him. Now he was dealing with a well-respected adult who liked little kids… The whole situation was, in its own right, kind of fucked up. Ok, really fucked up. Therapists weren't supposed to go around and emotionally damage their patients. In fact that was the complete opposite of their use… Would Allen be ok? Seeing how if they won and Allen was let free, they'd probably send him to a therapist… It seemed a bit counter productive in this case.

His thoughts scrambled when he saw where they were heading. It wasn't to the cell as he had hoped, but instead directly to Komuii's office. Shit… So soon? Allen grabbed the back of his shirt, and he could sense the tremors going through the younger boy's body. He plucked the smaller hand off and grasped it in his own, learning from experience that it helped in scenes like this one. His own heart was barreling into his rib cage consistently at a rate he didn't even fathom imaginable. Would Komuii actually help? Would he blow them off? Would he even believe them?

He held his breath subconsciously as Bak opened the door and stood aside so the two troubled teens could walk in. On the opposite side of the wall sat the Supervisor himself, and next to him the regiment force guard, Howard Link. Link had his usual blank military expression, and the taller Chinese man was wearing one of an unreadable script. He could feel the sweat dripping from Allen's hand into his own… The tension was wiring itself into a thick, tight spring ready to snap at the drop of a hat.

They stood there awkwardly, not sure whether to sit down or start the topic at hand. Komuii stood up and walked over to them, looking from one to the other and then letting out a huge sigh.

"You two are more trouble than you're worth."

Lavi laughed nervously and Allen (probably taking it literally) hung his head. It helped make things a bit less strict in the room, the red head being thankful to the older man's sense of humor.

"You ok?" Komuii turned to Lavi, taking him in from head to two.

"My leg's still stiff and a bit sore, but other than that I'm ok…" He shifted so there was more weight on his good leg than the injured one.

"How about you?" He turned to Allen and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I was only at the hospital to visit Lavi…" The shaky kid was looking like something similar to a fluffy haired Pomeranian. Being the shortest person in the room was probably no help.

"No…" Komuii twisted his mouth in an irked expression. "I mean… about Tyki…"

"Oh!" Allen turned tomato red and fidgeted with the area where his button had fallen off from. "Uh… well.. I don't… It's… um…"

The boy had his shoulder pat before the Supervisor moved to a file cabinet and removed a choice folder colored a fainted manila. He walked back and waved it in front of Lavi's nose. "Do you know what this is?"

"Tyki's file?" It was just a guess, but he was pretty good at guessing.

"Exactly." The man's face was serious as he opened it and looked through. "It's pretty much clean with the exception of a molestation charge that was won in his favor. If we open a case about him with similar charges, we may have a bit of a chance here. Especially with me and Bak working together, one therapist's word may be worth less to two Supervisors."

Lavi nodded understandable. He noted on how Komuii used the words "may" and "maybe" a lot… Obviously they were biting off a little more than they could chew. He grit his teeth slightly. Even if these adults wouldn't help, he had already decided to go through with this. There had to be some way out of this…

"If my word is worth anything," Link stepped in, raising a polite hand, "But I happened to see a bit of the turmoil from when Bookman Jr. and Mikk were fighting over Walker. Perhaps I could offer my position as a witness."

"Kanda offered something similar, along with a few other prisoners." Bak chimed in.

Lavi looked up and his throat constricted a little in disbelief. How many people were aware of what had happened? How many were willing to help them? He thought this prison was just filled with pricks and bullies… "Why are so many people willing to jump into this?" he inquired.

Komuii leaned against his desk and rubbed his neck. "According to them, they've always felt that Tyki was a little too 'rapey' for comfort. They're afraid one of them might be next if something isn't done about it."

The red head clicked his tongue. Of course. They didn't really care about Allen, they were just worried about their own hides. Oh well, as long as people were willing to make a statement…

"Perhaps we should start putting up some form of security cameras in the therapist's room and Walker's sector, therefore getting some form of evidence…" Link scratched his temple apprehensively.

"That would mean putting Walker up to bait," Bak put a hand up for Lavi, who had started bristling a the remark, "Hold it, Junior. We're not gonna do it. But cameras wouldn't be a bad idea, in case he gets a hold of Walker again."

"You're insinuating he's going to get Allen again." Lavi grounded out. "We should put up some kind of better defense for him, that way Tyki can't get to him at all!"

"But then we would come off as suspicious." Bak retorted briskly, "And if I recall, you're the one who wanted Tyki not to know about any of this until the defining moment."

The eye patched delinquent's head filled with a heavy heat and he glared at the ground. In one case, he was putting Allen in danger of being assaulted again. In the other case, he'd have to risk giving up their plan and giving Tyki a head start to go and speak out against them. The whole time the four older men were debating, Allen was hiding behind his boyfriend's back, keeping his face buried between the shoulder blades. Lavi grimaced. This must be hard on Allen… Finally a step of hope to get him out of this dilemma and outside to the real world, but the shot were slim and having people know about something that personal may be coming off as a bit embarrassing for the boy. If he wasn't so actively engaged with the current discussion, he would have turned around and hugged Allen as tightly as humanely possible, telling him everything would be ok and that they'd get through this. But for now, Allen would have to be pleased with the protective back of his partner.

"Alright, so are we in agreement for installing cameras?" Komuii looked up from whatever deep consultations he was having with himself.

"Sounds good." Bak agreed.

"Who are we going to have install them though?" The taller of the two blonds in the room, in this case Link, ran a hand over his outdated braid.

"Oh…" the stand-in Supervisor put a thumb and forefinger to his face again, this appearing to be his way of signaling he was in deep thought.

"If we want to stay under cover, we won't be able to have anyone professional put them in…" Komuii stated.

The official red head of the group grinned and jabbed his thumb into his chest like an overexcited moron. "Guys, I got in here for hacking an FBI server. You really think I won't be able to hook up some cameras?"

"That would be perfect actually!" Komuii beamed at the idea. "The fact is, Tyki thinks you're still in the hospital right now, and while you were gone we let Allen stay in here so he wouldn't have to go back to being by himself… That way we can keep Allen safe and keep you out of view for the most part while you secretly install them!"

Bak snapped out of his daze and looked up to Lavi, eyeing him carefully. "You may be even more brilliant than myself…"

Allen peered out from behind Lavi's back, nervously looking at each taller individual. "So I can stay here still?"

"Certainly." Komuii responded.

Link headed for the door, calling back on his way out: "I'll alert the other guards to be on the watch for Mikk when I'm not around. I'll tell them to keep to themselves, and just call me, therefore keeping his attention away."

Lavi could feel the adrenaline start to pump through his veins. So far it was five against one, and whichever inmates were willing to speak out against the madman causing this grouping. When the time was right, they would strike and put Tyki Mikk behind some bars of his own.

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**A plan finally coming together? Why yes! Yes there is!**

**By the way… Allen's little dinosaur rant actually happened between**

**Me and a girl I was talking to… Needless to say she got sick of my bullshit pretty quick XD**

**I'm definitely going to update sooner next time, this wait was unacceptable D:**

**Thanks for reading, and reviews are always liked!**


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